This is an updated version of my article first posted on Goanet on April
17, 2005.
PONNOS (JACKFRUIT)
The jackfruit originated in India at the foot of the Western Ghats, and
is now very popular throughout South East Asia.
The tree is handsome and stately, 30 to 70 feet tall, with evergreen,
alternate, glossy, somewhat leathery leaves which are oblong, oval or
elliptic in form, 4 to 6 inches in length; juvenile leaves are lobed.
All parts contain "pank" (sticky white latex.)
Short, stout flowering twigs emerge from the trunk and large branches,
or even from the soil-covered base of very old trees. It cannot tolerate
'wet feet.' If the roots touch water, the tree will not bear fruit or
may die.
A good yield is about 150 large fruits per tree annually, though some
trees bear as many as 250 and a fully mature tree may produce 500, these
fruit are probably of medium or small size. A jackfruit tree is said to
live as long as 100 years. However, productivity declines with age.
Almost everyone in Goa grows jackfruit trees and they can be seen in
every compound/backyard in villages as well as in towns.
The fruit is unusual as it is borne on the main branches and trunks;
occasionally even from surface roots of the tree. It is the largest
tree-borne fruit in the world, weighing from 10 to 60 or even as much as
110 pounds, and up to 36 inches long and 20 inches in diameter.
The rind or exterior of the compound fruit is green or yellow when ripe
and is composed of numerous hard, cone-like points attached to a thick
and rubbery, pale yellow or whitish wall. The interior consists of large
edible bulbs of yellow, banana-flavored flesh, massed among narrow
ribbons of thin, tough undeveloped perianths and a central, pithy core.
Each bulb encloses a smooth, oval, light brown starchy seed covered by a
thin white membrane.
The seed is 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches long and 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick and is
white and crisp within. There may be 100 or up to 500 seeds in a single
fruit. The aroma of the ripening fruit is extremely sweet, with a
distinctive flavor reminiscent of banana and pineapple. Once the aroma
spreads, it cannot be controlled; hence, the good old Konkani saying:
"Ponnos lipovn dovrunk zait punn tacho pormoll lipovnk zainam!" (You may
hide a jackfruit but you cannot hide its aroma!)
Jackfruits mature 3 to 8 months after flowering. The fruit is covered
with numerous hard points, is pale green in color and changes to a
yellowish-brown during ripening. Fruit is mature for harvest when the
single small leaf above the stem withers and the first color change occurs.
Ripening continues post-harvest and with experience is ascertained by
tapping the fruit. When ripe, the fruit softens a little and the rind
will give in when pushed. Jackfruits turn brown and deteriorate quickly
after ripening. If a person is fat and has a round stomach, people
remark: "Polle taka, to ponnos koso zala!" (Look at him, he has become
like a jackfruit!) Sometimes, people jokingly tap his stomach and
question him: "Ponnos pikla re?" (Is the jackfruit ripe?)
Jackfruit is a summer fruit of Goa. It ripens principally from March to
June. It is one of those delicacies which once you begin to eat ends
only when the stomach is full. Many people at first hesitate to eat it
because of the "pank" but once they get the hang of eating it, then
there is no looking back; jackfruit fondness grows with familiarity.
This is how the good old Konkani saying originated: "Vokol ghore khaina
mhunnon bingttamnim varn bhorlem khuim." Roughly translated, it means
the bride pretended not to eat jackfruit and yet the rice husking pit
was filled with seeds.
Similarly, many despise things when they have had too much of them or
had them for too long. Here again, we have yet another jackfruit-related
Goan saying: "Pott bhortuch ghore ambott!" (When your stomach is full,
the carpel is sour.)
There are three types of jackfruits in Goa:
(1) "Rosall Ponnos" - having a pale-brown or occasionally pale-green
rind and containing small, fibrous, soft, mushy, but very sweet "ghore"
(carpel;) the rind of these jackfruits can be broken open with bare
hands. Some women, when their husbands are aged, refer to them as
"Rosall Ponnos;"
(2) "Capo Ponnos" - usually having a light-green rind, occasionally
brownish and containing crisp and almost crunchy "ghore" of high quality
though not quite as sweet; a knife is needed to cut open the rind; and
(3) "Capo-Rosall Ponnos" - also having the same rind as that of Capo but
its "ghore" are a mixture of both - they are neither hard nor soft but
they are sweeter than Capo Ponnos; this one also needs a knife to cut
open the rind. The "char" (perianth) of the Type 3 jackfruit is quite
thick and as tasty as the fruit. As children, we ate it as well.
Jackfruit trees of Type 1 mostly bear fruits at their lower trunks,
whereas Types 2 and 3 bear fruits high above on the tree. To remove
jackfruits from such trees, you climb up the tree with the help of a
ladder, carrying with you a "bhaimcho razu" (well-rope) and a knife,
place the rope on the nearest joint next to the jackfruit to be removed,
prepare a noose, place it around the middle of the jackfruit to be
removed and fasten it tightly. You then ask the person on the ground to
tug on the rope while you cut the stem of the fruit with the knife. The
person on the ground then slowly lowers the jackfruit until it reaches
the ground. He then immediately places a "kotti" (coconut shell) under
the stem to collect the "pank."
We have all the three types of jackfruit trees in our properties but the
one in front of our house - "Capo-Rossall" is one of the best in the
whole of Gaumvaddy. As children, we would feast on jackfruits on Sundays
and holidays. Before you cut open a ripe jackfruit and in order to guard
against the "pank," you must do the following:
- Apply coconut oil to both your palms and a little to your lips
- Apply oil to the knife to be used to cut the fruit
- Cut the jackfruit into two halves - lengthwise
- Cut and separate the "mav" (core) from both halves
- Pluck "ghore" from the "char."
Don't kiss your partner on the lips before you thoroughly clean them
with oil and soap or else get ready to be caught in action!
To clean pank from the knife, insert it in the "chul" (cooking place)
with fire and clean it with the help of "kato" (coconut husk.) Repeat
the process until the "pank" comes off the knife and finally apply oil
and clean it with a piece of cloth.
Since we had plenty of jackfruits, each one of us was given half a
jackfruit. If the fruit was cut widthwise, I always asked for the lower
portion as it is larger in size and contains more "ghore" than the top
portion with the stem.
We would mostly eat jackfruit in three sessions. The first session was
at around 10:00 am at which time we usually ate "kanji" on Sundays and
holidays. The second minor session would be after lunch, and the third
was in the evening after we returned from play, but if we were late to
return home from play, our mother would not allow us to eat "ghore" at
that time. She would say: "Tinsanche ghore khal'lear ratche dont
choddtele ani magir tum pottan chabta mhunnon bob martolo." (If you eat
"ghore" late in the evening you will get worm disease at night and then
you will yell and complain that you have a stomachache."
As we know, children always like to do the opposite. So, we would
sometimes dodge our mother, defy her instructions and eat "ghore" - the
result: as soon as we had our dinner and went to bed, we would complain
of stomachache. Obviously, mother would get angry with us and say:
"Hanvem tuka sanglelem ghore khainaka, torui punn tuvem khal'le; atam
khuimchem vokot haddum?" (I told you not to eat "ghore" but you did;
from where shall I get the medicine now?)
The only medicine that she could think of in the middle of the night and
which was available at home was 'cashew fenni.' So, she would pour half
a kals (wine cup) of fenni, give it to us and say: "He kalsik soddsodit
ghontt mar, chador angar vodd ani ugich nid." (Quickly sip the liquor
from the cup, cover yourself with a bed sheet, and go to sleep.) Within
less than half an hour, the stomachache was gone - the worms were dealt
with and we had a good night's sleep.
Overall, there is some resistance to the jackfruit, attributed to the
belief that overindulgence in it causes digestive ailments, but it is
the raw, unripe fruit that is astringent and indigestible. The ripe
fruit is somewhat laxative; if eaten in excess it will cause diarrhea.
Raw jackfruit seeds are indigestible due to the presence of a powerful
trypsin inhibitor. This element is destroyed by boiling or baking.
Our Capo-Rosall jackfruit tree mentioned above always yielded dozens of
jackfruits every year - so much so that we would send them to neighbors
as gifts. Whenever we sent half a jackfruit to our neighbors, we would
place a piece of paper on the inner cut side so as to prevent the flow
of "pank." Anyone who visited us during the summer would be gifted with
a jackfruit; we also sold some, but all of this came to an end after the
following incident.
It was March 1963. The festival of Holi usually takes place around this
time of the year. As always, our jackfruit tree was full of fruits from
top to bottom, including its lower trunk, and most of them were mature.
Since it was a full moon night, the moon shone so brightly that one
could easily recognize passers by. Just like on All Souls Day,
mischievous boys from villages play pranks on neighbors on the Holi
festival night by stealing their fruits like mangoes, papayas, bananas,
jackfruits, etc.
Knowing this, we decided to guard the fruits by keeping awake that
night. We sat on the large sopo (seat made of stones) in our balcão
behind a "zhodd" (a partition made of coconut leaves) and whenever we
heard any footsteps we would cough or talk loudly to let them know that
we were on vigil.
We were able to foil at least ten attempts from 8:30 pm till 4.00 a.m.
At around 5:00 am, since it was almost dawn, we dispersed and went to
sleep. When we woke up at around 9:00 am, the best, mature jackfruits
were gone - 30 in number! Obviously, while we kept vigil, the miscreants
also had been keeping a watch on us.
From that day till today we have not seen a bumper crop on the tree; it
still bears fruits but very few. They say: "Chorteleacho hath boro asonk
zai." Roughly translated, it means that a robber's hand must be good
and/or lucky. Surely, whoever had stolen our jackfruits did not have
lucky hands, which is why till today the tree does not bear as much
fruit as before. It sounds strange and it is hard to believe but it is true.
Believe it or not!
.............to be continued..............
Moi-mogan,
Domnic Fernandes
Anjuna, Goa
Mob: 9420979201
