Jackfruit is the "porcupine" of the vegetable world. Can you imagine the first person to brave its frightening exterior? If the exterior didn't scare you off, the aroma of an overripe jackfruit could be a large deterrent. The jackfruit is also one of the more "gi-normous" fruits around. We're talking up to 70 pounds of prickly skin, "ribs," bulbs or pods, and seeds.
Forbidding exterior aside, the interior of jackfruit is golden and creamy looking, with individual pods or bulbs dotted with large black seeds. The pods or bulbs, which are actually coverings for the dark seeds, can be eaten fresh, roasted, or used as a cooking ingredient. Unripe or "green" jackfruit (unripe it is still beige, white, or golden) is often called "vegetable meat" for its chewy texture and mild flavor. Jackfruit seeds can be roasted or boiled, like chestnuts. Some people leave the seeds inside the bulbs and cook the two together. The nuts soften during cooking and can be eaten like a chewy bean.
If fresh jackfruit is not available or is out of season, it can be purchased frozen, dried, or canned either in brine (usually unripe) or in syrup (ripe and sweet, not used as a vegetable meat). Young or unripe jackfruit is what is needed for "vegetable meat." Canned young jackfruit can be found at Asian and South Asian stores and online; frozen young jackfruit is often available as well. Be certain to select young, green, or unripe, canned in water or brine, to use jackfruit as a vegetable meat. Ripe or canned jackfruit in syrup is for dessert use.
Fresh jackfruit can often be too ripe to use as 'meat.' It can be hard to find, or is sold in quantities too large to conveniently use before it ripens. However, fresh ripe jackfruit is a great sweet snack, terrific for eating right from the shell or as an ingredient in fruit salads or sorbets. If you do find a source for fresh unripe jackfruit, you can clean, seed, and cut it and freeze for later use.
When tackling fresh jackfruit, you are going to want to ask for a tutorial on cutting and cleaning it from the store staff, or you can view many different videos online. Be certain to do your homework before working with a fresh jackfruit!