Jackfruit. Is it another disappointing fad? Or is it really like pulled pork?

[pigeononthegate]

I'm curious to try jackfruit, as I have been enthusiastically assured by vegan friends that it is uncannily like pulled pork. DS2 is a total carnivore and turns his nose up at meat-free meals dh and I eat a lot of spicy lentil soup, chickpea curry etc but DS2 feels that this is not food), so I am hoping jackfruit with BBQ sauce might tempt him.

Is it really any good? Or is it another vegan substitute that tastes like ass and has a weird texture?

Fresh jackfruit stinks. I'm half Indian and it's quite common there.

I can't begin to think how vile tinned jackfruit is let alone the horrid fresh stuff ugh ugh ugh. It's nothing like pulled pork texture wise and definitely doesn't taste like it. Total con by money grabbing vegan bandwagon jumping corporate marketing types.

Agree. Texture's wrong for pulled pork - smooth and soft, similar to mango or other firm fruit. Sweet too which you can't totally get rid of regardless of how you flavour it. Pulled pork is soooooo much nicer!

I'm Indian but haven't been to India in many years. I remember quite liking fresh jackfruit but I may be misremembering. The tinned stuff is the unripe jackfruit. I have a tin of it to try. I'm a bit disappointed that it's disgusting.

Where is it actually grown though? I can't help but think of the airmiles

Good point. It was certainly on offer in Asia, but google tells me it’s also grown in parts of Africa.

I really don’t like it and it seems to be in everything at the minute.

There's an excellent buzzfeed recipe for jackfruit 'pulled pork'. Definitely worth a try. I don't eat meat but the meat eaters I've fed it to all said they aren't sure they would've known it was veggie if they hadn't been told. You need to use tinned underripe jackfruit in brine (or underripe fresh, but that's much more of a pain). You can buy the tins in Asian supermarkets or through amazon.