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Jackfruit

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Jackfruit

The jackfruit (Cebuano: nangka or Filipino: langka; Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae).

The jackfruit is the largest tree fruit, reaching as much as 55 kg (120 pounds) in weight, 90 cm (35 inches) in length, and 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter. A mature jackfruit tree produces some 200 fruits per year, with older trees bearing up to 500 fruits in a year. The jackfruit is a multiple fruit composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers; the fleshy petals of the unripe fruit are eaten by humans, in addition to the ripened fruit.

The jackfruit tree is well-suited to tropical lowlands and is widely cultivated throughout tropical regions of the world, particularly from South Asia to Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Its ripe fruit can be sweet depending on grown variety, which is commonly used in desserts. Canned green jackfruit has a mild taste and meat-like texture that lends itself to being called "vegetable meat". Jackfruit is commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cuisines. Both ripe and unripe fruits are consumed. It is available internationally, canned or frozen, and in chilled meals, as are various products derived from the fruit, such as noodles and chips.

The name jackfruit comes from Portuguese jaca added by physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India. In turn, jaca is derived from the Malayalam word ചക്ക chakka, when the Portuguese arrived in India at Calicut on the Malabar Coast in 1499. Later the Malayalam name chakka was recorded by Hendrik van Rheede (1636–1691) in the third volume of Hortus Malabaricus. Henry Yule translated Hendrik's book in Jordanus Catalani's (fl. 1321–1330) Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East. The Malayalam ചക്ക chakka is derived from the Proto-Dravidian root kā(y) ("fruit, vegetable").

Centuries later, botanist Ralph Randles Stewart suggested it was named after William Jack (1795–1822), a Scottish botanist who worked for the East India Company in Bengal, Sumatra, and Malaya.

Nangka is another name used in Philippine English borrowing from Tagalog related to nangkà in Cebuano and in Malay, both from the same Austronesian language family.

Artocarpus heterophyllus grows as an evergreen tree that has a relatively short trunk and dense treetop. It easily reaches heights of 9 to 21 m (30 to 69 feet) and trunk diameters of 30 to 80 cm (10 to 30 inches). It sometimes forms buttress roots. The bark of the jackfruit tree is reddish-brown and smooth. In the event of injury to the bark, a milky sap is released.

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