The culinary world describes mixing ethnic foods into dishes in a non-traditional way as Mashup Cuisine. For years, Filipinos have cooked unripe jackfruit in coconut milk as a vegetable side dish. Unripe jackfruit, pictured in this newsletter, are harvested at about the 20 pound size, instead of the mature bundle of fruits encased in each tough, outer shell and weighing 70 - 80 pounds.
 
Because of the unique, chewy texture of unripe jackfruit, the food is being canned and exported from Asia to western countries for use in vegan entrees in combination with tofu and gluten or as an alternative to them.

Jackfruit and figs are both members of the Moraceae family. However, jackfruit trees are definitely tropical, requiring warm temperatures and a good deal of rain whereas fig trees are grown in a more temperate climate.

For those living near large cities, Asian food stores may be expected to carry canned, unripe jackfruit and sometimes frozen unripe jackfruit as well. Because this food is becoming popular, many natural foods stores now stock unripe jackfruit too.

Unripe and ripe jackfruit are available frozen and in cans so be sure to read labels carefully because mild, salty flavored, unripe jackfruit is used as an entree, and sweet, ripe jackfruit as a dessert.