Breadfruit - Let Me Count The Ways

Breadfruit au gratin

Breadfruit trees are plentiful down here in the Caribbean.  Take a walk on most islands and you will see nearly as many breadfruit trees as coconut trees.  Well ok.....third behind Mango and coconut.  They are originally from the South Pacific and were imported by Captain Bligh to the Caribbean, intended to be cheap food for slaves.  Yes, that Captain Bligh.

Breadfruit on the tree

The trees grow tall with big, dark green leaves.  The breadfruit itself is big, round and bright green.

Fresh from the market.  The brown and white is ok.

When purchasing breadfruit, always tell the market ladies how you are going to cook it and they will get you one ripened for that cooking method.  Generally they are still bright green but with a few brown spots on the skin.  That is a good thing.  For roasting, they should be a little riper.  Apparently they need to be cooked soon as they go from ripe to spoiled quickly.  However, after cooking, they can be stored in a container in the fridge and used for a fair amount of time.  The flesh is white with an inner choke similar to an artichoke but not as furry.

Cooking methods - Cut up and boiled for 40 mins or 10 mins in pressure cooker.  Baked in an oven for about 40 mins or the island favorite of roasting whole in the coals of a fire.

Breadfruit is best treated like a potato in terms of recipes and thus bountiful recipes can come from the breadfruit......get it?  Bounty!  Ha!  The key is to cook the breadfruit first.  After, it can be served simply with butter/salt/pepper, mashed, sliced and fried up in oil,breadfruit salad (like potato salad), in stews or in a gratin.   One common recipe is to mash it up with an egg and some cooked fish, season it up and fry it to make fish cakes.  When roasted, it has a slight smoky flavor and is often eaten straight off the fire.  *In Bequia, we came across some locals having a Sunday beach party.  They had an open fire going and at least 6 breadfruit in the coals roasting and yet others waiting to go in.  We stopped and made inquires.  They guys in charge of the roasting opened one that was cooked and cooling up and insisted we try.  It was still very hot inside (so be careful) and tasted like a smoky, roasted potato off the grill.

Rosted on our grill but not enough.  It should be all black

We have attempted one breadfruit previously.  Tom roasted it on our Magma grill.  Not an easy task as it is a small grill on a rolling platform (our boat) but somehow he kept it from rolling off the grill.  It took quite some time this way and wasn't 100% done when we pulled it off.  I cut it up and finished it in a pan on the stove with butter and olive oil.  It was ok but more importantly, it peaked our my curiosity.

A few days ago I bought a breadfruit from a market lady in Bequia.  $5 Eastern Caribbean dollars - $2 US for one approximately 8" in diameter.  We discussed cooking methods and times.  Note - We find asking about and discussing food prep of local produce is a great way to break the ice.  Locals are usually very proud of their produce and eager to share information.  Case in point -An uninterested elderly woman in the corner of this market booth suddenly became very interested and entered into our conversation about cooking breadfruit.  An elderly gentleman also came to life and added his two cents worth.

Freshly cut

Removing the choke

Ready to pressure cook

After 10 mins pressure cooking

Removing the skin

In water so they don't stick (left) and those for mashing (right)

Breadfruit Au Gratin-

I cut the breadfruit into approximately two inch chunks, leaving the skin on and placed them in the pressure cooker.  Because space was tight, I cut off the inner "choke" on the pieces that had some.  Tom added water to the pan - about 1/2 the way up.  We decided to go 15 mins vs 10 mins just to be sure it was done.  It worked but we could have done 10 mins for the recipe we were creating.  I would say 10 if you are going to use the breadfruit in chunks, pieces or slices.  I would cook 15 if you are going to mash it.  We let the pressure cooker cool down by itself.  Then using tongs because the pieces were still hot, I cut the skin off the chunks and sliced them up.  We put them into a big bowl of water as the breadfruit is very starchy like a potato and I didn't want it sticking together. The chunks sliced up nicely.  A few pieces in the bottom of the pan were extra tender so I placed those into another bowl to be mashed up.

First layers - breadfruit, shredded cheese, Parmesan cheese

Another round of breadfruit, cheese and cheese

Tom lined a 9x13 pan with aluminum foil (to ease in clean up).  I put a dash of olive oil in the bottom and smeared it around.  Then we layered the cooked, sliced breadfruit into the bottom of the pan.  Tom grated white cheddar cheese and spread a layer on top of the breadfruit.  A sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese was added.  Then another layer of breadfruit, then the shredded cheese and Parmesan again.

Milk, eggs, salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg -lots of it

Pouring the "custard" over the breadfruit and cheese

In a separate bowl I mixed approx 1 1/2 cup of milk, two eggs beaten, salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.  I whisked this and then poured it over the breadfruit cheese mixture.  I might try one egg next time just to see what the texture is like.  A bechamel sauce could be cooked up and used as well.

After 20 mins in the oven

We baked it in at 350 oven for 20 mins.  Then we pulled it out and topped with bread crumbs and a drizzle of olive oil.  It was placed back in the oven under the broiler for 5 mins until browned.  

Breadcrumbs and olive oil

When it came out of the oven, a final generous dusting of fresh grated nutmeg was added.  

More freshly grated nutmeg - lots

We ate it for dinner and declared Breadfruit Au Gratin a big home run.  

Mashing the breadfruit up with a splash of milk

Rich and rich

Breadfruit Mashers with Sour Cream- 

The extra tender pieces were mashed up just like potatoes and sour cream was added.  Blindfolded I think people would be hard pressed to distinguish between mashed potatoes and mashed breadfruit when prepared this way.  Tom's comment after tasting?  "Where's this been all my life!"

"Where has this been all my life?"

Results-

We shared a small sample of each with sv Barefoot Life.  Stan likes breadfruit -ok but Lann admitted to not being a fan to date.  However, they agreed to try both.  The next day, they reported back that they liked both recipes.  Lann liked the mashed with sour cream the best.  "It tastes just like mashed potatoes with sour cream."  

We also shared a sample of the Breadfruit Au Gratin with sv Baidarka.  She called on the VHF radio the next day to thank us and ask for the recipe. 
Both Tom and I thought chopped or shredded ham would be an outstanding addition to the Breadfruit Au Gratin.

Cooked up, oiled up and ready to be used in various ways

We were so inspired we bought another breadfruit a few days later.  I pressure cooked it up the same day - 10 mins this time, leaving the breadfruit cooked but still firm enough to work with in various ways.  The skin was cut off and the chunks stored in two containers with a dash of veg oil to keep them from sticking together.  Then we proceeded to test breadfruit in more recipes.  See below.   

Herb Buttered Breadfruit

Herb Buttered Breadfruit -
I sliced up cooked breadfruit pieces and sauted them in a combination of butter and olive oil in a skillet.  I added dried herbs (Herbs de Provence) but I would certainly use fresh if I had them.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Simply mayo and mustard for the dressing

Breadfruit Salad with red onion

Breadfruit Salad - 
Think potato salad.  Whatever your favorite potato salad recipe, simply substitute breadfruit for the potatoes.  For my recipe I combined mayo and spicy mustard.  I added finely chopped red onion and cubed cooked breadfruit.  Usually I put in chopped celery but I didn't have any.  Chopped capers would have added a nice kick but I didn't have any of those either.  It's getting near the end of the season so the boat stores are limited.

Final note - 
It seems breadfruit can be used in recipes the same way you would use cooked potato.  Tom plans to try his hash brown recipe soon using breadfruit.  We will let you know how that turns out.  Breadfruit gnocchi anyone?