food Marketing - Technology 1/2023

Ingredients
new recipes or improve the existing
recipes. An example of this is
developing a recipe to taste like classy
meaty dishes like ‘pulled pork’. Both
Karana and the Jackfruit Company
make the ingredients available
through out the year by fashioning it
into pre-cut, cleaned and ready-touse
ingredient.
Meanwhile, the continuing use of
young jackfruit, some surprising
creative dishes, as they appear in
menus and cookbooks, developments
have surfaced. To mention some
of them, these include taco filling,
meatball base, menudo ingredients,
and teriyaki bowlpart.
Young jackfruit’s nutrition
Raw and young jackfruit have the
same likeness and texture to pulled
meat. This is why jackfruit becomes
popular in western cuisines as a food
base for vegan meals like sandwiches,
barbecues, tacos and the likes as meat
replacement. As a base replacement
to meat, jackfruit does not promise to
give you the same amount of protein
you get in meat. Let’s see what one cup
(165g) of sliced, raw jackfruit can give
you. This amount provides 157 calories,
3 g of carbohydrates, 1g of fat and 2.8g
protein. Besides, it gives excellent
source of vitamin C and potassium.
To wit, the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) has provided
the following nutrition data: Calories
(157g), Fat (1.1g), Sodium (3.3mg),
Carbohydrates (38.3g), Fiber (2.5g),
Sugars (32g) Protein (2.8g), Vitamin C
(22.6mg), and Potassium (739mg).
Most of the fruit’s calories come
from carbs. A cup serving has 38.3g
of carbs. From this carbs, 32g comes
from sugar and 2.5g come from
dietary fibers. Jackfruit has a glycemic
score of 75 and a medium glycemic
load. Score of 70 or over is considered
glycemic that can raise blood sugar
levels. The score gives an estimate of
how food may influence the levels of
blood sugar.
Due to its very low level of fat content,
jackfruit is considered as a hearthealthy
food.It has only 1g of fat per
cup; no saturated and transfat.
Jackfruit acts only as a replacement
for chicken or pork and doesn’t give
high amount of protein that you can
find in animal meat.
For every cup of young jackfruit, it has
only about 3g protein while the same
cup of meat contains 20+g. Some
micronutrients also abound in raw
jackfruit like potassium. A cup of this
raw, young fruit gives 739mg, which is
about 15.7% of the daily value. It is also
rich in Vitamin C, A, copper, manganese,
and magnesium. Vitamin C is about
23mg or 25% of daily value. The same
cup of sliced young jackfruit gives 157
calories carbs, protein, and fat.
For the reason that raw jackfruit has
fiber content and no saturated fats,
this makes the stuff a good dietary
pattern, according to the American
Heart Association. And this pattern
can lower cholesterol levels by 10%.
So consider it adding to your shopping
list and reduce the risk of heart stroke.
Vitamin C is supportive of the immune
system, repairing damaged cells and
in absorbing essential nutrients like
iron. If you add jackfruit seeds to
your dishes, you get a protein called
jacalin. Studies have shown that
this protein protects the immune
system from HIV infection. Some
of you, especially older adults who
have poor quality sleep due to lack
of magnesium, may take a serving of
young (cooked) jackfruit. It contains
about 48mg magnesium, although the
recommended allowance is from 300
to 350mg to top up your daily target.
A cup of raw jackfruit has 0.07mg
manganese. This micronutrient is
valuable in bone formation, mineral
density, and risk of fractures. When
you substitute jackfruit for meat,
you lower the risk of having type 2
diabetes. Why is this so? When you
do this, you cut more calories and
saturated fats while ingesting more
fiber and beneficial micronutrients.
With this fat and more fiber, insulin
sensitivity is thus improved, with
gains on the positive side in reducing
type 2 diabetes.
Having allergy to jackfruit is uncommon,
though some people show allergy to
latex exudates from some tropical fruits.
Though it is not yet well-established,
some chemicals in jackfruit may pose
interference with medication during
surgery, which may give drowsiness
to patients. So have consultation with
your doctor before surgery.
As a meat substitute for fries, wraps,
pies, and other dishes, you can
prepare fresh unripe jackfruit this way.
Unripe jackfruits are also available
in ethnic stores or groceries canned,
salted, or preserved. For fresh green
jackfruit, cut it into halves or smaller
without removing the skin. When you
have the ideal size, boil for 30 to 60
minutes the chunks until soft and
have a stringy texture like pulled pork
or chicken. Finally, peel off the skin
and separate seeds and pods.
Aside from Dutch companies, some
Korean food companies have been
joining the scene aimed at targeting
some meat-alternative markets.
This meat replacement venture has
been projected to have more than
60% of world-wide protein market by
year 2040.
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The Author:
Rico R. Magda is a Plant Pathologist at the
University of the Philippines at Los Baños
and a regular contributor to FMT
14 food Marketing & Technology • February 2023