Fruit Talkabout: Breadfruit History, Description and Uses

Breadfruit ( Artocarpus altilis ) is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae originating in the South Pacific and that was eventually spread to the rest of Oceania.
British and French navigators introduced a few Polynesian seedless varieties to Caribbean islands during the late 18th century and today it is grown in some 90 countries throughout
South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean, Central America and Africa.
Its name is derived from the texture of the cooked moderately ripe fruit, which has a potato-like flavor, similar to freshly baked bread.
Ancestors of the Polynesians found the trees growing in the northwest New Guinea area around 3,500 years ago. They gave up the rice cultivation they had brought with them from
Taiwan, and raised breadfruit wherever they went in the Pacific (except Easter Island and New Zealand , which are too cold). Their
ancient eastern Indonesian cousins spread the plant west and north through insular and coastal Southeast Asia. It has, in historical times, also been widely planted in tropical regions elsewhere.

Description
Breadfruit tree planted in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Breadfruit trees grow to a height of 25 m (82 ft). The large and thick leaves are deeply cut into pinnate lobes. All parts of the tree yield latex , a milky juice, which is useful for boat caulking.
The trees are monoecious, with male and female flowers growing on the same tree. The male flowers emerge first, followed shortly afterward by the female flowers, which grow into capitula, which are capable of pollination just three days later. The compound, false fruit develops from the swollen perianth , and originates from 1,500-2,000 flowers. These are
visible on the skin of the fruit as hexagon-like disks.
Breadfruit is one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more grapefruit-sized fruits per season, and only requires very limited care. In the South Pacific , the trees yield 50 to 150 fruits per year. In southern India , normal production is 150 to 200 fruits annually. Productivity varies between wet and dry areas. In the Caribbean, a conservative estimate is 25 fruits per tree.
Studies in Barbados indicate a reasonable potential of 16 to 32 tons per hectare (6.7-13.4 tons/acre). The ovoid fruit has a rough surface, and each fruit is divided into many achenes, each achene surrounded by a fleshy perianth and growing on a fleshy receptacle. Most selectively bred cultivars have seedless fruit.
The breadfruit is closely related to the
breadnut, from which it might have been selected, and to the jackfruit .

Habitat
Breadfruit, an equatorial lowland species, grows best below elevations of 650 metres (2,130 ft), but is found at elevations of 1,550 metres (5,090 ft). Its preferred rainfall is 1,500–3,000 millimetres (59–118 in) per year.
Preferred soils are neutral to alkaline ( pH of 6.1-7.4) and either sand, sandy loam, loam or sandy clay loam . Breadfruit is able to grow in coral sands and saline soils.

Uses
Breadfruit is a staple food in many tropical regions. The trees were first propagated far outside their native range by Polynesian voyagers who transported root cuttings and air-layered plants over long ocean distances.
Breadfruit are very rich in starch , and before being eaten, they are roasted, baked, fried or boiled. When cooked, the taste of moderately ripe breadfruit is described as potato -like, or similar to freshly baked bread. Very ripe breadfruit becomes sweet, as the starch converts to sugar.