When we bought our house, we were happy to find a very young Breadfruit tree the previous owner had planted. We quickly realized thought that though Breadfruit IS a beautiful tree, with very large leaves, it gets seriously big, very quickly (we’re talking over 100 feet!).
Baby Breadfruit tree circa 2007
Breadfruit circa 2009 (Note the difference in trunk size…Retaining wall for driveway now in place)
We trimmed the tree a few times but were both a bit concerned about its proximity to the house and to our retaining wall. When it flowered and started fruiting for the first time we were excited, as we figured we’d at least get to try the fruit before the tree has to “go”. Locally, folks use the “Pana” as a vegetable, either frying it as “tostones de Pana” or boiling it as a side “vegetable” (tastes like a bland potato…). I found a few curried breadfruit recipes (good bless Trinidad and Tobago…) and waited for harvest time.
The Breadfruit fruit starts out as a clump of flowers which then turn into one fruit with lots of with nobby little spikes (each formed from a flower!). The fruit eventually “heals” over into a smooth fruit. Not ours…the spikes continued until the fruits ripened, got soft and started falling off the tree (forming big piles of mushy mess).
A few weeks ago, a friend stopped by with his mother-in-law. She looked over the railing to admire our Breadfruit tree (as many people do) and then noted with great delight that we have the “other” type of “Pana” (aka “Pana de pepitas”). Say what? Mystery solved: We have a Breadnut tree, rather than the seedless Breadfruit (those interested can read all about the two types of “breadfruit” and their relative, the Jackfruit, here and everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the Breadnut here). She explained that the Breadnut seeds (or nuts) were harvested out of the fruit and then boiled or roasted like chestnuts. Who knew?
We finally got around to picking one of the fruit (having seen the inside of the fruits post fall, neither of us was overly excited about the prospect of ‘harvesting’ nuts…). Nick then spent a messy hour separating out the bread “nuts” . We then boiled the hell out of ’em.
Digging through the pulp for the “nuts” (there has GOT to be an easier way…).
Close up: Messy work!
The crop
Yep, they look like chestnuts and taste just like chestnuts! Good news is that we can now easily propagate our tree (the seedless Breadfruit requires grafting or root propagation) as Nick had the foresight to put a few “nuts” to the side. But what does one do with hundreds of chestnuts???
Jun 9, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Great story and pictures. Thanks. I love chestnuts but don’t know any recipes.
Jun 9, 2010 at 10:53 pm
very interesting post miri… never had a breadnut or a breadfruit but the picture of the outside of and the inside remind me of an experience we had here at my house buying and trying durian. it had nuts housed in chambers like in the picture with nick and it was holy hell getting them out of the husk. of course, with durian, one eats the chicken-fat-looking, stinky, mealy fruit that surrounds the nut. i’ve been told you either love it or hate… i hated it and had to put in out on the porch because it stunk so bad. are there durian growing down there in PR?
Jun 10, 2010 at 7:16 am
Thanks Jim. I think you CAN grow Durian here but its not a popular fruit to my knowledge. I smelled it once in Singapore and that was enough for me…
Jun 10, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Miri,
That is very cool. You would never suspect that the tree was any different than a regular breadfruit tree. Our breadfruit tree is so massive, it needs a good trim. When a big one drops and lands on the steel roof of our garage it sounds like a bomb went off! Bob is afraid it will ruin the roof.
I like breadfruit tostones and chips, but other than that.. not much.
The nut does look like a lot of work. good thing your thumb is healing nicely. Now you can help Nick harvest them!
Jun 10, 2010 at 10:18 pm
creature tree!
Jun 11, 2010 at 6:45 am
They taste like little potatoes – just boil, peel and salt. Also, the breadfruit is one of the most hurricane resistant trees…very flexible and with the “nut” kind the fruit wouldn’t be a wind hazard.
Jun 11, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Looks yummy.
Jun 13, 2010 at 10:54 pm
We call this fruit breadnut or chatigne in Trinidad. It is delicious curried or boiled in salted water like you did.
Aug 23, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Born in Haiti I used to eat these nuts morning and night. I wish you weren’t so far away from Massachusetts I could come every year to pick this good stuff from under the tree. these things are so good when boile them with a little salt piled the skin off and eat them. We have another name for it ( Arbre a pain . Another way to eat them is to cook chicken thighs in gravy and put these nuts in it after removing the skin. Hum….! Yummy the taste is in my mouth now.