Nangka

I've just been extracting the fruits from a quarter of a nangka, also known as jackfruit to Westerners, that I got from remainders at a market. It was perfectly good because it had not fully ripened when I bought it, but when the aromatic smell in my kitchen got overpowering, I had to extract the fruits before they started to ferment.

Nangka tree in Vietnam

As the reference article states, the fruits are surrounded by inedible fibres, and the stalk exudes sticky sap when cut. You can see the orange coloured flesh in one of the pictures. This reminded me that when we dismantled a nangka in Malaysia we used cooking oil to help dissolve the sap on the hands afterwards. Tonight I used that, some dish detergent, a scouring pad, and some isopropyl alcohol to finish off.

Very messy, but totally worth it. I have enough fruits to last me a couple of days.