Jackfruit party

I am fortunate enough to live in an area of Madagascar that is famous for its rich bounty of tropical fruit, and even more fortunate that I have mango, coconut, avocado, jackfruit, and lychee trees behind my house. All but the jackfruit tree have yet to bear fruit since I’ve been here, but the jackfruit (or apaly be, as it’s called in Malagasy) is a confounding thing. Ever since I moved into my house I’ve been staring at the tree right next to my front door and wondering, how the heck do I eat one of these things? I have a tree overflowing with fruit but I am just not sure when or how I can eat it. Before they’re ready to be eaten, they need to be approximately as big as a Thanksgiving turkey, but also soft and slightly squishy. Supposedly you can tap one and listen for a certain sound to determine if it’s ripe enough to eat, but no one has demonstrated that for me yet. And, if you cut into a jackfruit before it’s ripe, it oozes out a marshmallow-y liquid that is the stickiest thing you’ve ever seen in your life- and good luck washing it off your clothes. So, I’ve been apprehensive about cracking one open, because I am just not quite sure what to do.

However, about a month ago I was doing one of my usual weekend bike rides around town, when I just ride around exploring the area, and I came across a group of boys hacking up a jackfruit. I made a very Malagasy-style comment (they are famous for stating the obvious just to make conversation—“oh you’re fetching water!”) and exclaimed, “ah, apaly be!” The de facto leader of the group responded with “tonga soa!” (welcome!), so I turned my bike around and doubled back. I introduced myself and said that I was a Peace Corps volunteer, new in town, and that I’d never eaten jackfruit but that I had a tree in my backyard. And by doing this, I finally got to try jackfruit! The boy showed me which part of it to eat, as more and more people gathered to partake in the massive fruit. It was delicious, with a slightly perfumey, bubblegum-y flavor. And the thing I learned is this: because jackfruits need to be so massive before they can be eaten, whenever you cut one open, it becomes a party. People just come over to partake, because there is so much to go around, and voila, jackfruit party! It was one of my most Peace Corps moments to date.

Local kid enjoying some jackfruit

 I’ve still yet to eat an apaly be from my own tree, but I climbed up and cut one down a few days ago, and it’s sitting on my floor still ripening before I cut into it. Actually, right now it’s serving as a table for my cell phone as it charges in the outlet next to the fruit. Yes, this is my life now: charging my cell phone on a jackfruit.