Monkey jack

What it is

Monkey jack is Artocarpus lacucha, also written Artocarpus lakoocha. The irregularly rounded fruit is usually 5–10 cm (2–4 in) across, weighing 200–350 g (7–12 oz). Green skin turns yellow as it matures, then brown.

A single fruit grows from a whole head of female flowers joined together. Inside are typically 10–30 seeds. The ripe pulp tastes sweet and sour; the unripe fruit goes into savoury cooking and pickles.

Where it comes from

Its native range runs from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to Malaysia. It grows in the humid foothills below the Himalayas and is known as badahar in Nepal.

In Nepal’s lower Himalayan foothills the tree is prized as fodder: one tree yields 60–200 kg of fresh leaves a year. Farmers also keep the trees among other crops, where their canopies give shade.

How it's eaten where it grows

In the western Himalaya, dheu curry starts with unripe fruit boiled until soft, then mashed and fried in mustard oil with spices, onion and garlic. For dheu parantha, mashed boiled fruit mixes with mint and curry leaves inside a wheat flatbread. It cooks on a hot tawa, a flat griddle, and comes with curd or pickle.

Ripe fruit can be eaten fresh. It also becomes a sauce: the softened pulp is separated from its seeds, then blended with tomato and cooked with spices.

How it's grown

Monkey jack grows into a tree 10–18 m (33–59 ft) tall with a dense, spreading crown. It briefly drops its leaves at the start of the dry season. Young plants tolerate some shade, but older trees do best in full light, with deep soil that lets water drain through while staying moist. A tree raised from seed takes about five years to bear fruit.

When and where you'll find it

In most of Nepal, ripe monkey jack is usually collected from late June to early August. Fresh dheu also reaches local markets in the western Himalaya. Pickle is another way to meet it: Indian maker Baba Manthal uses sun-dried pieces, mustard oil and spices in its dheu pickle.