Why everyone is Loving Jackfruit in lockdown? Why This Summer Fruit Has Become So Popular?

Kerala is celebrating annual Jackfruit season despite lockdown restrictions. It is a nutritious and delicious ingredient in many dishes. People irrespective of their age love Jackfruit. People are sharing their innovative dishes using all the parts of Jackfruit on social media. Jackfruit specialties are one of the most trending topics on social media right now. Many people have shown their creativity on social media by sharing their inventions of Jackfruit dishes and uses of its every part. Information, recipes related to Jackfruit is continuously being shared on social media groups. 

Steamed jackfruit in spiced coconut paste, Jackfruit seed shake, jackfruit halwa, jackfruit cutlet are some of the star items. Jackfruit seeds are useful in many traditional dishes. Besides jackfruit seed thoran, they are added as an ingredient in avial and sambar as well. Jackfruit payasam (dessert) have now become the favorite item among people of Kerala.  

People were really worried in Kerala when the lockdown started in the last week of March. There was a call to minimize the use of non-essential items and government also encouraged the people to opt for rooftop farming, kitchens gardens etc. Fortunately lockdown coincided with jackfruit season and now people are completely obsessing over it.  

In March 2018, jackfruit was declared the official fruit of Kerala. As per data from the Department of Economics and Statistics, Government of Kerala, in 2016-2017, jackfruit was grown across 91,982 hectares where 281 million tons of the fruits are produced. 

Most of the households in countryside have either jackfruit or coconut trees in the backyards so there is no need to buy it from the markets. It is easily accessible to people to make various uses of it. Jerome George, a businessman from Kozhikode and a vlogger, has successfully introduced shawarma, momos and pie from jackfruit.  

As we all know that due to COVID-19 and lockdown, people are mostly refraining from fast food. They have moved to home cooked meals and traditional dishes. With these changes in eating habits and arrival of Jackfruit season, people surely are making most of it.