Shirley Kerle on Jakfruit

Shirley Kerle, President of Mackay Branch of Rare Fruit Australia shares her experiences with growing Jakfruit

I bought and planted my first jakfruit tree in August 1989. It was a seedling tree that I had successfully bid for at the Mackay Branch RFCA meeting. I harvested the first fruit in January 1995 and was very happy with it. The fruit flavour and texture does vary from year to year but most of the time it’s a crisp, medium sweet, yellow fruit with a slight lemony flavour. The fruit is good for eating fresh and for cooking but not really good for drying. For several years this tree was heavily mulched, watered and feed at regular intervals then it was left to fend for itself. Last year I thought it had died, due to the prolonged dry season, then we had some decent rain and it recovered and set fruit.

Over the years I have planted several different grafted trees but they have all died and I’ve come to the conclusion that only seedling trees can survive without a lot of tender loving care. At the moment I have 8 seedling trees, in pots, waiting for a spot in my orchard. These include 2 that I have grown from seeds from Veronique’s fruit and 2 grown from seeds from fruit tasted on David Hunter’s property.

The fruit from David’s tree was small, low in latex and dry enough to enjoy fresh but I’m sure that the flesh would also be wet enough to dry successfully. I sincerely hope that they grow true to type. I also have a seeding from fruit of a jakfruit chempedak cross, this fruit was highly rated by all tasters at the 2007 Botanic Garden’s display. I’m not sure about the origin of my other seedlings but I intend to plant the lot and wait and see what happens.

For the last 2 years in February and March a friend, Veronique, has been giving me the excess fruit from her seedling tree. This fruit is much wetter than mine and therefore much better for drying. Once the fruit is dry I pack it into small freezer bags, sealed with a twisty then stacked in empty plastic icecream container. These are sealed then stored in the refrigerator until eaten. No matter how many bags of dried fruit I have processed there is never any left when the next season arrives as I really find dried jakfruit very tasty.