Jackfruit… First and Last
The successful fruiting of jackfruit trees entails a little
luck in the marginal climate of suburban Sydney. Luck comes with the early spring
flowering of the tree: later summer flowers will likely lead to the rotting of
the fruiting body during the cold of winter.
Last May, our first and more precocious jackfruit tree gave
up its first ripe fruit. Working in the garden, my curiosity had been piqued by
a sweet smell emanating from the vicinity of the tree. There, lying on the
ground, was a fallen jackfruit, fully tree-ripened, but showing signs of rot
and animal damage. Once opened, the fruit was intensely sweet and delicious. “So,
it can be done…”
This season, our second more compact jackfruit tree produced
just one fruit. We watched the little fruit develop throughout the summer
months and into autumn. It was a race against time.
It was a race against time, not because of the cooling days, but rather, because we were intending to
move. The old Colinas garden would be moving from Sydney’s western suburbs to
the Mid North Coast of New South Wales.
So, the first week of April had come around, and the home
had been moved. One last visit from the North to the old home and garden would
necessitate the harvesting of the burgeoning jackfruit… and our first crop of
red pomelos… before the new owners would take possession.
The jackfruit, which appeared to be on the brink of
ripening, took its 400-kilometre journey to the new home where it was placed
into a large brown paper bag with some bananas. The theory was that the ethylene
produced by the ripening bananas would assist the green jackfruit to reach
maturity.
And ripen, it did! Within four days.
Today, we cut open the jackfruit, a yellow crisp variety, sweet
with a slightly-lemony flavour. This was a very different flavour from the super-sweet
fruit produced by our first tree. More importantly, the fruit provided a
surfeit of seeds for a new tree, or two, on our small acreage in new northern
climes. So, in a way, the tree travels with us to a new home.
It may have been the first and last fruit of this tree. But
really, it won’t be the last…
Wishing you hours of enjoyment and contentment in your
garden…
