Jackfruit seed pickle a new value addition

Festival attracts customers amid rain in city; take it to North India, stakeholders urged

Karnataka , Mangaluru : 11/06/2017 : A lady making Jackfruit parota during the Jackfruit mela at Balam Bhat Hall, in Mangaluru on 11/06/2017. PHOTO : H S MANJUNATH

Pickle made from jackfruit seed is a new value addition at a jackfruit festival that attracted many customers amid rain here on Sunday.

Vinod Kumar of Kavoor in the city has been making pickles under the brand name Jyothi Home Industries since last two decades. Mr. Kumar said that he introduced the pickle made from jackfruit seed for the first time in the festival. It was the latest addition made a month ago to 60 varieties of pickle which he has been making.

“I introduced 45 packets of jackfruit seed pickle today to gauge the response from customers as it is a new addition. All sold out by noon,” he said and added that pickle from ripened jackfruit bulbs was also a new addition he made two years ago. The feedback from customers to the variety was also good.

Savayava Krishika Grahaka Balaga, Mangaluru, organised the festival.

A variety of food items made from jackfruit drew customers. It included raw jack parota, jackfruit seed ambade, jackfruit seed burfi, raw jackfruit papad masala chat, halwa, payasam, kesaribath, kadubu, ambade, dosa, garige and buns. In addition, plenty of jackfruit and chips were available for sale.

Advice

Shree Padre, Executive Editor, Adike Pathrike, and an avid promoter of jackfruit, who inaugurated the festival, asked all stakeholders of jackfruit to market jackfruit and its value added products in North India to expand the horizon.

Mr. Padre said that now many people in North India know the use of jackfruit for only making “subji”. Many of them were not familiar with the value added products of the jackfruit.

If the North Indian market for the value added products was tapped properly, there was no need to export jackfruit, he said.

Mr. Padre said that like the jackfruit seed pickle introduced in the festival, the potential for making more products from the jackfruit seed and its powder should be explored.

In Kerala, jackfruit products were now available throughout the year. The same should be made available in the North Indian market.

He urged researchers to conduct research on the medicinal properties of jackfruit. It would help growers and marketers immensely.

Addoor Krishna Rao, president of the balaga, presided over the inaugural function.