Researchers in the Northern Territory are working with food processors and major grocery retailers to develop ready-to-eat jackfruit products to grow the Australian jackfruit industry.
This week consumers in Sydney were offered an opportunity to taste jackfruit grown in the Northern Territory as part of the Developing ready to market jackfruit products for Australian market growth project led by the Northern Territory Government's Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) with support from the University of Melbourne and nearly $1 million in funding from AgriFutures Australia.
As the largest tree fruit in the world ripe jackfruit is akin to the tropical tastes of banana, mango, and pineapple, and when unripe, its stringy texture is known to be a healthy meat substitute increasingly popular in western cuisine.
While the local industry is currently worth $2 million a year, creating new products such as jackfruit juice and packaged arils will grow the domestic jackfruit market.
The small Australian jackfruit industry based in tropical areas of North Queensland and Darwin in the Northern Territory is seeking to tap into this rising consumer interest with international competitors only permitted to sell canned product rather than fresh jackfruit in Australia.
Northern Territory DAF researcher Dakshina Yadav said as part of the project three jackfruit products were offered for consumers based in Sydney to taste test.
"Customers shopping in Harris Farm Markets were offered samples of jackfruit and asked to provide feedback on their preferred product, including impressions of taste and aroma, and whether they would buy a similar product," Ms. Yadav said.
"The focus was on building product awareness and gauging consumer acceptance as well as providing a pathway to develop a supply chain to maximize the value proposition of the project."
AgriFutures Australia Manager, Emerging Industries, Dr Kerinne Harvey said jackfruit has many potential uses beyond fresh fruit. "Jackfruit can be harvested at different physiological stages depending on the choice for consumption," Dr Harvey said.
"The arils can be cooked when they are green for a savoury flavour, the seeds can be roasted like nuts and other parts of the fruit can be processed into highly nutritious products."
A/Prof Hafiz Suleria from the University of Melbourne and his research team are delving deeper into the potential of jackfruit, including harvesting jackfruit seeds to create innovative food products.
Dr. Hafiz Suleria shared, "We are actively engaging industry partners to develop novel food products based on jackfruit."
The project aims to help Australian jackfruit growers and processors achieve their vision of making Australian-grown, value-added products a reality.
