SC - Re: [TY] Fruits From 'New World'

[Christine A Seelye-King]

>Greetings!
>Here's something I have read about since grade school and have yet to 
>figure out what it is: breadfruit. What the bloody peat is it?
>
>---Ceara ni Neill, House Barra 

Breadfruit (Artocarpus alitilis)  
A South Seas plant, was first discovered by Europeans in 1697, by William
Dampier, a sometimes pirate, sometimes legitimate sailor, as the
political winds blew.  Later identified by an English botanist (Joseph
Banks) on a voyage with Captain James Cook to assay breadfruit's
usefulness, Banks observed the sailor's readiness to eat the fruit
instead of bisquit, and since that was the staple of the time, he deemed
it to be "one of the most useful vegetables in the world".  Plantation
owners in the West Indies elected it to be the cheapest way to feed their
slaves, and petitioned George III to send them some seedlings.  George
dispatched Capt. William Bligh, who had been serving under Captain Cook. 
Bligh spent quite a long time selecting his thousand plants, which
annoyed the ship's crew, and when he reduced the crew's drinking water to
keep the trees alive, they Mutineed.  (That's right, Breadfruit was the
source of unrest of the Mutiny on the Bounty). Bligh was set adrift, and
the plants were thrown overboard.  A few years later (1793) Bligh made a
second voyage, and pulled into Jamaica's Port Royal Harbor in what looked
like a floating forest (the plants thrived on the trip, and a full grown
breadfruit tree can reach 60 feet).  But,  the slaves refused the food in
favor of plantains and bananas.  It was used for animal fodder for the
next 50 - 60 years before the emancipation of the slaves, after which it
was slowly accepted as human food. It has since become a staple of the
diet there, and is used much like a potato.  
As large as a baby's head, and covered with a reticulated pattern of
small protrusions, the fruits are green to brownish.  It comes with seeds
(which can be toasted and eaten like chestnuts) or seedless.  Used green
it resembles potatoes, and becomes soft, then runny as it ripens, which
it does quickly.  Recipies include: Roasted Breadfruit - served with
butter, salt,& pepper;  Breadfruit Hash - with ground beef, S&P, Tobasco,
broth, butter;  Breadfruit Chips - fried; Breadfruit and Coconut Pie; 
Ripe Breadfruit, strained and used as a base for mousse or liquers, and
for sweet or savory quickbread.  
	
sources:
"Food" by Waverly Root
"Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables" by Elizabeth Schneider
"Recipies from around the world - Breadfruit" by Try-Foods International

Anything else you want to know about it?
Christianna
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