GOVERNOR OF GOA PS SHREEDHARAN PILLAI IS ALL PRAISE FOR JACKFRUIT: The jackfruit came in for hosannas of praise at the jackfruit festival held at the new Raj Bhavan Durbar Hall on June 10, 2023 and present for the occasion were Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan and Rajendra Arlekar, governors of Telangana and Bihar, respectively. While the dignitaries who spoke showered praise on the jackfruit as a gift of food for the future and in all its many presentations. Also present were First Lady Rita Pillai, Vice-Chancellor of Goa university Harilal Menon, George Kulankara who gave an overview of jackfruit produce from Kerala, R Mihir Vardhan (IAS, Rtd) gave the welcome address while Gaurish Shankhwalkar the vote of thanks. There was large contingent of farmers from Goa and many were thrilled to go home with gifts of jackfruit saplings, the hefty jackfruit and its golden pods.

By Tara Narayan

GOVERNOR of Goa Sreedharan Pillai has really made the Raj Bhavan gardens one of the most public-friendly places to visit. Never has it been so accessible to the public at large like it has been ever since he came to take over as Governor of Goa. The Raj Bhavan has become a happy place to visit! One has been realizing this for some time now but the jackfruit festival which happened at the new Raj Durbar premise on Saturday, June 10, 2023 confirmed this. It was a grand success in that everybody who spoke for the jackfruit being king of fruit spoke with passionate lyricism.
Clearly, nobody can be as crazy about the jackfruit as the people of Kerala! In Goa and the north people may go mangoes ga ga ga but with the Malayalam folk of Kerala it is love for the jackfruit all the way. There are just so many narratives about the humble jackfruit or “chakka” which the foreigners made to “jackfruit” later on. In Kerala it is “devachar phal” – meaning fruit of the gods.
Of course, Goa too is jackfruit state but here at the jackfruit festival the line-up of jackfruits being given a royal treatment took one’s breaths away and left one looking on – the hefty fruit as well as their extracted pale to bright gold pods in bowls covered with cling film till the inauguration function was over and then everyone could go on a tasting spree! Jackfruit can be really a formidable fruit at once grand and humble and I rather liked what visiting Governor of Telangana Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan said about the jackfruit and one should not be afraid or scared of its unattractive looks, in Kerala they consider it a “family fruit” because one jackfruit offers enough for everyone to eat and be satisfied. One jackfruit yields so many delicious fruit within it and one may eat to one’s heart’s content.
A jackfruit is the fruit of happiness and Madam Tamilisai was oozing charm and gracious as she held a hefty jackfruit to her bosom and expressed her gratefulness for being invited by her “brother” Governor of Goa Sreedharan Pillai and his governor lady for the jackfruit festival.
It was also the marking of the first harvest of the special Ayur variety of jackfruit trees planted for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 71st birthday at the Raj Bhavan’s extensive orchard land. Usually jackfruit trees take six to eight years yield fruit but this special variety had yielded fruit in 18 months or so and the jackfruit pods were put out on display and for tasting purposes (one taster opined that it was not as intensely flavorful as older jackfruit tree fruit!). In any case there’s a jackfruit tree orchard in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Goa Raj Bhavan grounds.
Telangana Governor Tamilisai (who is from Kanya Kumari) shared that in Telangana they get to see lots of papaya, dragon fruit, mango but jackfruit is not so visible. However, if she has anything to do with it the people of Telangana will soon see jackfruit trees and eat jackfruit. In Kerala, every part of the jackfruit is put to good use – the sweet golden flesh is eaten as a much loved fruit, the seeds cooked in various dishes, the outer fleshy strands also go into making the popular jackfruit chips…unripe fruit is also widely used as a meat replacement for mutton and chicken!
Ripe jackfruit goes into making halva, “papad” to dry and fry for eating, juice concentrate, and now the jackfruit produce are getting more sophisticated. At the exhibition section there was a section featuring the various freshly prepared dishes of jackfruit from puri to savoury rolls to the most scrumptious halva and of course lots of the familiar jackfruit sticks or chips which at the entrance everyone got to help themselves! We wonder why we touch potato wafers in this country when we have jackfruit chips and wafers?

Afterwards there were lunch packets for everyone and it was altogether a most rewarding outing to the Raj Bhavan new Durbar Hall venue and lawns and while leaving one couldn’t help but notice the several gulmohar trees in blazing red bloom here and there and the tamarind trees flowering exquisitely…one felt like taking a walk to see the many offerings of the Goa Raj Bhavan’s offerings but one couldn’t wander around beyond a security point without more identification or invitation of Governor’s Office.
Governor Sreedharan Pillai has not only been taking an interest in Goa’s cultural and literary traditions but is also authoring a book on the revered trees of Goa, this would mean tourists coming to take a tour of the trees of Goa hopefully! Why not? As it is hundreds and thousands of trees have been cut down on plateau lands rich with water springs e.g. to make way for the Manohar International Airport. Forests of trees being cut down is always bad news for the people of any state for where there are trees there is water, no trees, no water.

VALUE ADDED! A few recipes…

1. JACKFRUIT PAKODA
   Ingredients:
   Well matured jackfruit bulbs, 500g; onions, 3 nos; green chilli, 8nos; coriander leaves, half bunch; curry leaves, 2/3 sprigs; gram flour, 200 g; red chilli powder, 2tsp; salt to taste; oil to fry, 500 ml.
   Method:
   Cut open well matured jackfruit. Remove bulbs and extract seeds. Shred the bulbs into small pieces, add chopped onions, green chilli, curry leaves, coriander leaves. Stir in gram flour, salt to taste, red chilli powder and arrive at a batter with water as required to get dropping consistency. Make small to medium size balls and deep fry. Serve.
2. JACKFRUIT CUTLET
   Ingredients:
   Jackfruit, half kg; onion,3 nos; green chillies, 6 nos; pudina, few leaves; coriander leaves, half bunch; curry leaves, 2-3 sprigs; ginger, half inch; garlic, 6-7 cloves; garam masala, 1 tsp; ginger-garlic paste, 2 tsp; gram flour, 3 tsp; turmeric powder, half tsp; red chilli powder, 1tsp; oil to fry, 500 ml; salt to taste; egg 2 nos; bread crumbs, 1 cup.
   Method:
   Cut open mature unripe jackfruit. Remove bulbs and extract seeds. Chop the bulbs into small pieces. Chop onion, garlic, ginger, coriander leaves, pudina and curry leaves into small bits. Heat oil and fry onion followed by garlic, ginger, coriander leaves, pudina and curry leaves, green chillies and ginger-garlic paste. Then add jackfruit pieces and allow to cook till soft. Add garam masala, gram flour, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Take egg white and beat. Moisten your palm, make small balls of jackfruit cooked mixture, flatten the ball by gently pressing and dip in egg white. Roll in bread crumbs. Deep fry and serve hot.
3. JACKFRUIT PICKLE
   Ingredients:
   Jackfruit half matured, 1 kg; garlic, 80 g; ginger, 50 g; green chillies, 100 g; gram flour, 50 g; red chili powder, 2 tbs; turmeric powder, 1 tsp; curry leaves, 2-3 sprigs; oil, half litre; vinegar 200 ml; asafoetida/hing, 2 tsp; cumin seeds, 1 tbs; fenugreek seeds, 1 tbs; salt and sugar to taste.
   Method:
   Select a jackfruit that is not fully matured. Remove or scrap away the green outer rind. Then cut the jackfruit into big pieces along with seeds. Dry roast cumin and fenugreek seeds and finely powder. Heat oil in a broad cooking pan and fry chopped garlic, ginger, green chillies and curry leaves. Add jackfruit pieces and fry for 10 minutes. Add salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, gram flour and vinegar. Remove from fire and add asafoetida and cumin-fenugreek powder. Add sugar, mix well, cool and store in clean dry sterilized bottle.
4. JACKFRUIT SQUASH
   Ingredients:
   Jackfruit pulp, 1 kg; sugar, 1.8 kg; water 1.25ltr; citric acid, 15 g; lemon yellow colour, 7 ml; pineapple essence, 10 ml; potassium meta bisulphite 2.5 to 3 g/kg.
   Method:
   Cut open well ripe jackfruit. Remove bulbs and extract seeds. Cut the well ripe bulbs into small cubes. Boil 1 kg of pieces in water and then pulp into fine paste. Dissolve sugar in 1 ltr water and bring to boil, add citric acid. Cool and strain the sugar syrup and add the jackfruit pulp. Strain the above mixture and add potassium meta-bisulphite and fill in sterilized bottles.
5. JACKFRUIT JAM
   Ingredients:
   Well ripened jackfruit, 500 g; sugar 30g; citric acid, 1tsp.
   Method:
   Cut the well ripe jackfruit into small pieces. Boil the pieces with water and pulp into fine paste. Add the jackfruit paste and sugar and cook in pan with little water, if required. Add permitted food colour and citric acid to the mixture, stir continuously till jam consistency. Remove and fill in sterilized bottles. Store and use as required.
6. JACKFRUIT CAKE
   Ingredients:
   Maida 2 cups; jackfruit cut into pieces, 1 cup; powdered sugar, 1 cup; milk 1-2 cups; butter, quarter cup; cashew nuts, quarter cup; raisins, quarter cup; raisins, quarter cup; baking powder, 2 tsp; baking soda quarter tsp; cardamom powder,1 tsp.
   Method:
   Mix baking powder, baking soda and maida, sieve it thrice for good aeration. Now add in butter, sugar, in a bowl. Whisk the ingredients properly and mix well. Cut cashew nuts in small pieces. Preheat the microwave on convection mode at 180degC. Take a butter paper according to the base of container. Grease some butter in container, now place butter paper in it and add butter on the paper also so that it gets soft. Now add maida to the batter and mix well. Add milk in the batter as it becomes thin consistency. Add jackfruit, cashew nuts, raisins and cardamom powder and pour into container and bake at 180degC for 25 to 30 minutes.