Friday, August 28, 2009

Breadfruit

If you have visited Hawaii before, you may recall seeing these green soccer-ball-like fruits hanging from the trees. They are called breadfruit, but in Hawaiian they are referred to as 'ulu. With a breadfruit tree growing in our backyard, we are fortunate to enjoy this delicacy whenever it gets ripe.

There are many ways to cook a breadfruit. When peeled it can be boiled like a potato, microwaved, baked, broiled or even thrown on top of an open fire! One of our favorite ways to prepare breadfruit is to boil it and then drizzle a little oil and shoyu (soy sauce). If you like a little kick, add a few drops of tabasco. Another way to prepare 'ulu is featured in the following step-by-step video below that we put together. This 'ulu and bacalao (salted cod fish) salad recipe is commonly cooked by those descended from the Puerto Rican immigrants that live in Hawaii. He learned this recipe from his mother and often cooks this for family parties.




For more info on breadfruit, there is a great article on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadfruit and one more specifically on 'ulu in Hawaii: http://www.canoeplants.com/ulu.html .

I hope you have enjoyed this article and can cook up some of your own breadfruit recipes some day!

Aloha,
Marionette
www.kauai-artist.net

3 comments:

Lisabongzee ~ Island Dream Life said...

Great article! I am obsessed with "Old Tahiti" non-fiction, and the breadfruit is their staple. I have never tried it before, but I LOVE the trees. They are SO BEAUTIFUL.

Will have to check out your video!

ALoha,
Lisa

Lisabongzee ~ Island Dream Life said...

Hey great video, and I LOVE the music!!

Marionette said...

Thanks Lisa! That's kachi kachi playing in the background!

Aloha!
Marionette