Breadfruit is a big find!

I discovered it when I was 11 years old, traveling to Trinidad with my family. I remember it with such a fondness that when I saw it growing on a friend’s farm not too far from Auroville, it was always on my radar to find saplings.

One day, I was on my way back from playing a festival with my band Emergence in Ooty, and there was a nursery I asked the band if we could stop for a minute to buy some plants, and I found they had breadfruit!

I planted it in a backfield, and as it grew, I was always worried if it was getting enough water as that field did not have an irrigation system yet. However, it did, and it is now a huge tree that receives more water it offers us these delightful fruits that people from the Goa side tell me are so common, but people have forgotten how to use them.

We peel them, cut them up, and treat them as a potato. They are so tasty and so versatile. Just fry them with the usual suspects, onion, garlic, or even on their own!

This is a great gift for a vegetable! The season is summer monsoon.