Ingridients Terminology '2

• Jackfruit

Pronounce it: jack-froot

Jackfruit has become increasingly popular in the UK, featuring in vegan savoury dishes, including pulled jackfruit.

What is jackfruit?

Jackfruit are extremely large compound fruit made of numerous yellow ‘bulbs’ of flesh contained in a hard, knobbly exterior, with each bulb containing a seed. The trees are thought to have originated in India and now grow throughout the tropics.

They can vary in weight from 4 to 40 kilos, and although you can buy them whole, they are often sold ready prepared, particularly in the markets in Asia. The whole fruit don’t smell particularly nice, rather like ‘off’ onions (don’t confuse them with the spikier durian that smells far worse), but the flesh inside is generally sweet, rather like a combination of pineapple and banana, and it has a fruit salad aroma. Different varieties have varying degrees of sweetness. The flesh has a texture unlike any other fruit being soft but springy, and some varieties are softer and mushier, while others can be crisp and crunchy.

Choose the best

To eat jackfruit raw it should be ripe, but for cooking purposes unripe crisp ‘green’ jackfruit is best, especially if you are looking for a ‘pulled-pork’ texture and less sweetness for vegan savoury dishes, such a pulled jackfruit. Ideally, if you want to cook it in this country, buy ready-prepared jackfruit in packs or cans (unsweetened, look for brined or water-based cans), frozen or as dried strips.

Prepare it

If you are buying raw jackfruit that is ripe then the advice is always to cut it up and take out the seeds outdoors – if you do this indoors you will have to contend with the smell. Unripe jackfruit won’t give you the same odour problems, but it will coat your hands and everything else in a sticky latex. Cover your hands and knife blade with oil and your work surface with newspaper before you start, and then cut the fruit into chunks without bothering to peel it. Put the chunks in a large pot, cover with water and simmer for about 45 mins by which time the flesh will have a stringy look. Get rid of the peel, pith and seeds and drain the flesh well. Your pot may need a good clean as the latex sticks to everything. You can freeze the flesh at this point if you like.

Cook it

Most recipes that use prepared jackfruit tell you to use canned fruit. This just needs to chopped and any stray seeds extracted before being simmered in the flavourings you are using for between 10 and 30 mins.

Jackfruit seeds are also edible and are often dried and ground to a flour. The seeds can also be boiled and eaten, but you need to peel off the white membrane first, and this is a bit time consuming but not difficult once the seeds have started to dry off. The inside is a bit like a waxy potato.

• Kale

Pronounce it: kay-el

A member of the cabbage family, kale comes in two forms: kale, which has smooth leaves, and curly kale, which has crinkly leaves. Curly kale is the most common of the two.

Instead of forming a head, the leaves grow in a loose rosette at the top of a stem. The leaves are green, sometimes tinged with blue or purple, and their flavour is strong and distinct.

Availability

Kale is available all year round, but best from mid September to late February.

Choose the best

Go for heads of kale on the smaller side, as they will be more tender. The leaves should be crisp, with a bright colour.

Prepare it

Break the leaves from the stalk, and trim away the tough centre stalk. Wash, then shred or chop.

Store it

In a perforated bag in the fridge. Kale becomes increasingly bitter the longer it is kept, so eat within two or three days.

Cook it

Kale is most commonly boiled. For whole leaves, rinse, then put them in the pan without shaking the water off, cover, then cook for up to 2 minutes, until wilted; drain thoroughly.

For chopped or shredded leaves, put in a pan of water 1cm deep with a pinch of salt, then bring to the boil and simmer up to 5 minutes, until wilted; drain thoroughly. Pan fry (up to 10 minutes).

Alternatives

Try cabbage.

• Hazelnut

Pronounce it: hay-zl-nut

Grown in Europe and the US, hazelnuts are encased in a smooth, hard brown shell but are most commonly sold shelled. The sweet-tasting, cream-coloured kernel is small and round, with a pointed tip. Its thin, dark brown skin is faintly bitter, so some people like to remove this before eating.

Also known as cobnuts or filberts, hazelnuts are good eaten raw but the flavour takes on a more mellow, sweeter character when they are roasted. Like almost all nuts, they have a high fat content, which means they'll go rancid pretty quickly if not refrigerated.

Choose the best

Hazelnuts in their shells look good, but they will go rancid more quickly. Ready-shelled nuts in airtight packaging last longer.

Prepare it

Hazelnuts in their shells can be opened using a nut cracker. To remove the dark skin, place the nuts on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake on a medium heat for 10-12 minutes. They are ready when the skins begin to split and the kernels turn golden. Tip them into a clean teatowel and rub - the skins should come off quite easily.

Store it

Unopened packets of hazelnuts should be stored in a cool, dry place - they'll last for up to 3 months. Once opened, they should be kept in an airtight container.

Cook it

Raw as a snack, or added to muesli. Chopped and used in cakes or crumble toppings. Ground finely to make flour for baking.

Alternatives

Try almond, macadamia nut or pecan.

 

Sources :

BBC Good Food