Jackfruit
Artocarpus heterophyllus · Moraceae · also known as Langka, Nangka, Kathal
The largest tree-borne fruit on earth — up to 40 kg of bumpy green armor around honeyed golden pods that taste like Juicy Fruit gum, plus an unripe stage that shreds like pulled pork.
At a glance
- Taste
- Ripe pods are intensely aromatic and sweet — banana, pineapple, and bubblegum in one bite, with a satisfying chew. Unripe "green" jackfruit is neutral and fibrous, a texture chameleon for savory cooking.
- Origin
- Western Ghats of India
- Grown in
- India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam
- Peak season
- Spring, Summer
- Notable varieties
- EVIARC Sweet (Philippines), Black Gold, J33, Dang Rasimi
Sensory & practical profile
Taste fingerprint
- Sweetness
- Tartness
- Aroma
- Juiciness
- Firmness
Approximate, at peak ripeness · 0–5
- Ripe when
- Smells loudly sweet through the skin, sounds hollow when slapped, and the spikes flatten and yield slightly.
- How to eat
- Oil your knife and hands first — the latex is glue-stubborn — then pull the sweet yellow bulbs free from the white fibres and eat them raw. The big seeds inside each bulb are edible boiled or roasted, like chestnuts.
- Typical price
- Budget
At up to 40 kg it is the largest tree-borne fruit on earth, and its flavour famously resembles Juicy Fruit gum.
When it's in season, by region
| Region | Peak months |
|---|---|
| South Asia | Mar–Jun (India) |
| Southeast Asia | Apr–Aug |
How to select & store
Picking a ripe one
A ripe jackfruit smells loudly sweet at the skin and sounds hollow when slapped; the spikes flatten and yield slightly. Most markets sell cleaned pods by the tray — a mercy, since breaking one down is sticky work.
Storing it
Whole ripe fruit keeps only days; cleaned pods refrigerate 5–7 days and freeze well. Oil your knife and hands before cutting a whole one — the white latex is glue-stubborn.
Practical uses
🍽️ Culinary
- Ripe pods eaten fresh, layered into halo-halo, or simmered for turon filling with saba banana
- Ginataang langka — unripe jackfruit braised in coconut milk, a Filipino classic
- Green jackfruit as a meat substitute: "pulled pork" sandwiches, curries (kathal biryani)
- Seeds boiled or roasted like chestnuts; jackfruit chips in Kerala and Vietnam
🌿 Health & traditional
- Used in Ayurveda and Southeast Asian folk medicine as a cooling, strengthening food
- Research interest in jackfruit flour as a low-glycemic staple substitute
🎎 Cultural
- National fruit of Bangladesh; state fruit of Kerala and Tamil Nadu
- A single tree can feed a family — jackfruit is a serious food-security crop across the tropics
Eating jackfruit: what to know
What regular consumption looks like
Jackfruit is a nutritious everyday fruit, best enjoyed as part of a varied diet. It supplies useful potassium (about 448 mg per 100 g), a mineral linked with healthy blood pressure as part of a balanced diet.
Sensible amounts
A typical fruit serving is roughly a handful, one medium fruit, or about 80 g, and two or more varied fruit servings a day is a sensible everyday pattern. Because it is high in natural sugar, keep portions modest if you are watching blood sugar or weight — whole fruit's fibre softens the sugar hit, but juices and dried forms concentrate it and are easy to over-eat.
Evidence & conditions
As a whole fruit, Jackfruit contributes fibre, vitamins, and beneficial plant compounds, but it has not been shown to treat or prevent any specific condition — so it is best enjoyed as part of a healthy diet rather than as a remedy.
Safety notes
- It is high in potassium, so people with advanced kidney disease may need to moderate their intake.
- People with a latex allergy may react to it (latex-fruit syndrome).
Jackfruit: frequently asked questions
What does jackfruit taste like?
Ripe pods are intensely aromatic and sweet — banana, pineapple, and bubblegum in one bite, with a satisfying chew. Unripe "green" jackfruit is neutral and fibrous, a texture chameleon for savory cooking.
When is jackfruit in season?
Jackfruit is typically in season South Asia (Mar–Jun (India)); Southeast Asia (Apr–Aug). Peak months shift between the northern and southern hemispheres.
How do you eat jackfruit?
Oil your knife and hands first — the latex is glue-stubborn — then pull the sweet yellow bulbs free from the white fibres and eat them raw. The big seeds inside each bulb are edible boiled or roasted, like chestnuts.
How do you know when jackfruit is ripe?
Smells loudly sweet through the skin, sounds hollow when slapped, and the spikes flatten and yield slightly.
Is jackfruit good for you?
Jackfruit is a nutritious everyday fruit, best enjoyed as part of a varied diet. It supplies useful potassium (about 448 mg per 100 g), a mineral linked with healthy blood pressure as part of a balanced diet.
How much jackfruit should you eat?
A typical fruit serving is roughly a handful, one medium fruit, or about 80 g, and two or more varied fruit servings a day is a sensible everyday pattern. Because it is high in natural sugar, keep portions modest if you are watching blood sugar or weight — whole fruit's fibre softens the sugar hit, but juices and dried forms concentrate it and are easy to over-eat.
Everything about jackfruit is oversized. The fruit can reach 40 kilograms — heavyweight-champion territory for anything that grows on a tree — and a single specimen contains hundreds of golden, waxy pods. Its flavor is just as loud: the closest description most people land on is Juicy Fruit gum, and that’s not a coincidence — the gum’s flavor profile famously resembles jackfruit’s ester chemistry.
Two fruits in one tree
Like papaya, jackfruit lives a double life. Ripe, it’s an aggressive dessert. Unripe, its neutral, stringy flesh absorbs any sauce and shreds convincingly — which is why green jackfruit became the plant-based world’s favorite “pulled pork” and why Filipino kitchens have been braising it in coconut milk (ginataang langka) since long before that trend.
Don’t skip the seeds
Each pod wraps a large seed that boils or roasts into something between a chestnut and a new potato. In Kerala they’re curried; in the Philippines they’re boiled with salt and snacked on. Discarding them is leaving food on the table.
In the Philippines
Langka appears twice at the Filipino table: ripe strands sweetening halo-halo and turon, and young fruit stewed in coconut milk with chili and dried fish. EVIARC Sweet, a Davao-bred variety, is the current pride of local growers.
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In season with jackfruit
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