Comments on: Breadfruit, the Holy Grail of Grocery Shopping

By: melissa

melissa — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:48:06 +0000

I was wondering, can you freeze breadfruit?

By: Joaquin

Joaquin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:48:26 +0000

Breadfruit is definitely one of may favorites! I can’t understand why grocers, particularly those that are labeled “gourmet” can’t bring breadfruit to the area in this day and age. I’ve been living in Fairfax county for the past 30 years and have never seen a breadfruit in any supermarket.

I intend to try the Red Apple Market that has been suggested in the comments, but since you wrote your piece in August of last year, have you been able to find any in Virginia??

If you ever find one store in Virginia that sells them, please, send me an email… I promise to send you a great puertorrican recipe!

Best of luck! Joaquin

By: jon singer

jon singer — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:01:51 +0000

Hi again.

I bought a fresh breadfruit this afternoon at Red Apple Market. (That’s on 650 just south of 193, inside the Beltway in Maryland.) There were over a dozen of them, so if you are quick you can probably get one.

Cheers –
jon

By: Death by Durian Fruit? | Food & Think

Death by Durian Fruit? | Food & Think — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:41:51 +0000

[...] husk. I don’t know; I’ve never had a chance to try it (and I’m guessing that, like breadfruit, fresh durian may be hard to come by in DC). But now I know not to try it while [...]

By: Winston Carroo

Winston Carroo — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:54:46 +0000

I have seen breadfruit in many Jamaican food stores in Brooklyn

By: Juan

Juan — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:57:07 +0000

I recently went on a similar quest for breadfruit, suit and armor galloping in my 2002 Camry through Northern VA and calling DC and MD places with similar responses so I know exactly what the author means. I finally found breadfruit in the Litwin’s Market, 8th and Elm, Camden, NJ. Only 3 left and starting to rippen. Bought them anyway. More coming “ma~nana.” Glad to hear there are other places nearby that bring them occasionally.

I peeled it sliced it and took out the stem, boiled it lightly and mash it with olive oil, garlic, oregano, cilantro, pork rind and “adobo-salt” Stuffed it with chorizos and baked it. Ate with tilapia. Next morning, pressed a large spoon on the top of left over breadfruit “rellenos” to flatten it a bit, put and egg in the depression and fried it, breakfast of champions!

By: Luis Torres

Luis Torres — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:31:03 +0000

I left Puerto Rico in 1954, and although I’ve kept my island culinary traditions alive, I can’t say that I’ve ever been able to buy breadfruit stateside. I used to get frozen breadfruit “tostones” (like the plantain ones, but made with breadfruit) from my mother occasionally, but not since she passed away. I think part of the problem is that breadfruit does not travel well, and either goes ripe too quickly or gets bruised and goes bad. Could also be the fact that I lived for years in Minnesota and Iowa and now live in Texas. I still remember breadfruit as a treat, though!

By: Jon Singer

Jon Singer — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:32:12 +0000

Hi.

I get my fresh breadfruit at Red Apple Market, which is in Maryland, on route 650 just a bit south of 193. (That’s New Hampshire Ave, I think, just south of University Blvd.) Red Apple doesn’t always have breadfruit, only once in a while, but they do carry it. You just have to keep going until you find it.

I like to cook it by putting it into a bed of coals and turning it ’round and ’round, until it is charred all over and steam comes out the stem end. If it isn’t fully ripe, it smells and tastes about the way I remember my mom’s French toast from when I was a kid, though not as eggy.

Referring to Heather L.’s comment — Jackfruit is _Artocarpus_heterophyllus_, a close relative of breadfruit; it comes in two varieties. One is [merely] a rather large fruit; the other is the largest tree fruit known today.

You can occasionally get fresh jackfruit (the big kind) at various Asian markets in the area, and I finally found the smaller kind, just a couple days ago, at Song Que Deli, in the Eden Center (7 Corners, Virginia). This is the first time I’ve ever seen it in the flesh.

Some Asian markets have frozen ripe jackfruit, but I don’t think I’ve seen green jackfruit that way, only in cans or when somebody opens a fresh jackfruit before it has had a chance to ripen.

Cheers –
jon

By: HYACINTH MCCAULAY

HYACINTH MCCAULAY — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:06:33 +0000

try Jamaican markets; should be some in DC

By: Heather L.

Heather L. — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:01:34 +0000

Mom and I were just talking about jackfruit (a cousin of breadfruit or perhaps the same thing) today! She brought me a can of it back from her trip to North Carolina. I can’t imagine canning jackfruit but I guess they do it. We’re planning to crack open the tin at a family gathering and reminisce about eating it in Afria.

By: bryn

bryn — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:37:42 +0000

i love the conversations you had with these people, amanda. especially the lady whose grocery store doesn’t sell anything fresh. good luck getting some of this breadfruit in the future. maybe you and “C” should take a trip to Puerto Rico? i had the best fried chicken i’ve ever had there…maybe you can track that down for a blog?

By: Marc B.

Marc B. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:42:48 +0000

Try Grand Mart in 7 Corners(http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/172913) or H Mart in Wheaton. I think I’ve seen it at Great Wall recently (http://www.gw-supermarket.com/). I’m pretty sure if they have live bull frogs and soft-shelled turtles, (yes, a little sad, but if u eat cow burgers, don’t judge), they are likely to have breadfruit. I know they have Jack Fruit, and have the pics to prove it: http://twitpic.com/as6wb.