All About Breadfruit

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), is a botanical fruit and a culinary vegetable. Maybe that’s why this delicious and versatile fruit is a staple ingredient in tropical cuisines throughout the world. Cooked breadfruit has a flavor that’s similar to, well, bread. Breadfruit is a starchy, potato-like fruit with a craveable flavor to match.

Breadfruit is a staple ingredient in tropical cuisines throughout the world and is most commonly used in soups, curries, meat and seafood dishes, or served cold in salads and snacks. Occasionally breadfruit is first cooked, then mixed with hearty liquids like milk, cream made from dairy, nuts or oats. From there, breadfruit can be enjoyed in soft drinks and cocktails.

About the size of a grapefruit, breadfruits have a striking texture to their rind. Similar to jackfruit, breadfruits have dull, spiky bumps all over the fruit. As breadfruits mature, the color of their peel changes. They begin as bright, verdant green fruits with a bumpy rind. A ripe breadfruit will mature into yellowish green color with a more relaxed, smooth peel. Inside, the flesh is white to pale yellow.

There are many varieties of breadfruit and not all of them have seeds. When they do, breadfruits have dark, oval shaped seeds that are pointy at one end. The seeds are usually roasted and seasoned for peak tastiness.

Breadfruit grows natively in tropical regions around the world, and is believed to be native to The Philippines and New Guinea. There are a variety of breadfruit species that grow in Pacific Island regions including Hawaii in the US, and Southeast Asia in Indonesia and Malaysia and the Philippines. Breadfruit is also grown across South Asia in Sri Lanka, India and Seychelles, as well as the Caribbean and Latin America including Belize, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Barbados and Jamaica.

Breadfruit grows on lush trees (Artocarpus altilis) that can reach over 80 feet high that produce fruit year round. The tree has uses outside of the fruit it produces, and is prized for its latex and timber.

Breadfruit trees produce fruit year round, and peak seasons can vary greatly by region. In Hawaii, the season typically lasts from July through February.

Breadfruit, durian and jackfruit can be confusing when you’re new to these special fruits. After all, they’re large, lumpy and tropically delicious! Of the three, breadfruit is the smallest and does not have a powerful aroma.

All three have beautifully textured rinds that protect the fruit inside, but breadfruit’s spikes are more rounded and dull than the prickly durian.

Raw, unripened breadfruit must be cooked before consumption, whereas the other two can be enjoyed raw when unripe. Breadfruit is known to be the least sweet of the three fruits, and is typically cooked into savory and spicy recipes.

Whether a breadfruit is certified organic or not will depend on the farm where it was grown. At FruitStand, we only partner with the best specialty farms for exceptional quality of produce. When each harvest is available, we'll tell you whether the fruit is considered organic or conventional.

With a fruit this good, don’t keep our recipes to yourself! Join the FruitStand community on Facebook and share your breadfruit tips with us on Instagram @Fruitstandcom!