What Is Breadfruit? And Why It Could Be an Important Crop for the Future

If you saw the word breadfruit and immediately raised your eyebrows in confusion, you aren’t alone. This little-known fruit is hardly flying off the grocery store shelves, but some speculate it could become a very important crop in the future.

What Is Breadfruit?

Appropriately named, breadfruit is a seedless fruit with a high starch content that grows in tropical regions. Break into the skin of these little guys and you’ll find a bread-like texture. People in the South Pacific consume these more frequently than most people in Western cultures, and they often prepare them like we would prepare a potato.

See more: What Is Yellow Watermelon?

An Important Crop for the Future

Breadfruit sounds interesting enough, but why are people suggesting it could be an important crop moving forward?

Researchers think the production of our most popular crops – rice, corn and soybeans, to start – may suffer and decline in the future. But the humble breadfruit shows no signs of change. At least, that’s what researchers based at Northwestern University have suggested in a study published in 2022.

Food insecurity is predicted to rise in low-latitude agricultural regions (think lower Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean) in the coming years. But many think breadfruit, which has a hardy reputation in these areas, will be able to thrive for years to come – specifically between 2060 and 2080.

Even if the temperatures change and rainfall patterns shift, the likelihood of these swings negatively impacting breadfruit seems slim. The crop can handle droughts and high temperatures with ease and requires less fertilizer than your average fruit or vegetable.

See more: What Is Regenerative Agriculture?

How Do You Use Breadfruit?

There are hundreds of varieties of breadfruit, but the most common ones eaten in the tropics resemble melons with bumpy or spiky skin. The starchy fruit gives off a fragrant, bread-like aroma when roasted or baked.

Breadfruit tastes different depending on when you eat it. You can technically eat it during any stage of ripeness, but the most common time to consume it is when it is mature but still firm to the touch. But don’t expect it to taste like bread at this stage. It may smell like a loaf coming out of the oven, but it tastes more like a potato.

On the other hand, if you wanted to bite into one when it is still small and green (people like to say it resembles an artichoke at this stage), it will taste more like a soft, sweet bread. You can even dehydrate it and mill it to make a gluten-free flour for baking.

Long story short, this incredible little fruit can be baked, steamed, boiled, pickled, candied, mashed, ground into flour or used in all manner of soups, stews and even curries depending on how you wanted to incorporate it into your diet.