Jackfruit
Food

Jackfruit Cheese Cake

I had tried jackfruit in various canned and pre-packaged dishes but had not ever considered buying a fresh jackfruit.  When I saw one at the store, I had to buy it!  It weighed nearly 20 lbs. and was a little intimidating.  Mine cost $1.20 per pound, so it was roughly a $25 investment.  After a little research, I discovered that my jackfruit was ripe and ready to be eaten.  Most of the canned varieties are young fruit that takes on the marinade/seasoning you add to it, so better for vegan/vegetarian savory dishes.

Here you can see what the inside looks like, seeds, fruit pods, and the flesh that doesn’t get eaten at this point (but would have been made into a savory dish in a younger fruit).  You can roast or boil the seeds which are edible.  I did not get around to this but I did save a couple to try to grow. 

You can see that this is kind of a big job, separating the fruit pods from the flesh and the seeds.  The fleshy pods of fruit are what you will want to eat raw or use for desserts.  Anywhere you would typically use pureed fruit, this could be used.  Like pies, jams, cobblers, etc.  Because jack fruits are so big, you will want to freeze or can what can’t be consumed right away.

The fruit pods taste like a combination of pineapple, bannana and mango – I love them.  Besides eating the fruit plain, we were given a great recommendation by a friend of ours who is a chef to add the blended jackfruit to a cheese cake.  Hello!!!! this is absolutely the best cheese cake I’ve ever eaten!  It’s lighter but more flavorful than traditional cheese cake.

Jackfruit Cheese Cake

 

Jackfruit Cheesecake Recipe

 

(4)  8oz. Packages Cream Cheese

1 1/2 Cups pureed Jackfruit (mature and fresh- so that its sweet)

1 Cup Sugar

4 eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Blend all the room temperature ingredients on low and then add the eggs one at a time, paying attention not to over mix.  I used two store bought graham cracker crusts, which makes two small cheese cakes.  Bake for 45 minutes and then let cool and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Feel free to make your own crust and use a spring form pan.  This yeilds one cheeescake and takes 55 minutes to bake.

 

I couldn’t resist throwing a few of those seeds in pots, and my jack trees are already growing!  Check out my garden for free blogs ( pineapple and papaya) if you are interested in growing your kitchen scraps.

Jack tree seedling

 

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