I mentioned in the last post that the Farmer’s Group had agreed to make breadfruit flour in a workshop last week. Well, the turnout ended up being me, my supervisor and one other female farmer from the community. We don’t have a finished product and the timeline for the production of what we DO have is far from efficient. But I still feel successful, it is liberating creating something through trial and error, without someone whispering in your ear “you’re doing that wrong”, even if they’ve never done it before. This is a common statement among skilled persons here, understandably I suppose. Rural Jamaicans are a very resourceful and thrifty bunch, they work physically very hard for very little and they see Americans as people who do the opposite. So it makes sense that watching me learn to peel a green breadfruit on my own would be frustrating to someone who has been doing so for decades. My stubborn refusal to let people step in and do it for me prompts responses like “gyal yuh nuh easy!” and even the other day, “gyal if yuh was mah sister I’d beat yuh!” But I learn by doing- even if (or especially if) what I’m doing is wrong.
Anyway, here’s an account of the breadfruit flour making process. Persons in FL, Hawaii or other breadfruit yielding lands might find it useful. “Glutards” ie: those of a gluten free lifestyle will be pleased to know that breadfruit flour does NOT contain gluten. If you are none of the above, maybe it’s too cold to go outside and you could use some entertainment, so enjoy…
Basics For Breadfruit Beginners
This is what a breadfruit looks like (look up a pic of a tree, I don’t have one but they’re cool lookin). This one is small, they can get huge. This one is a few days picked, flour-making breadfruit should be freshly picked and drained, ie: a “Green” breadfruit. To drain it tear off the stem and let the white fluid seep out until it stops. This is important just take my word for it.
Once the breadfruit becomes soft (like most ripe fruit) it can be roasted over an open flame. Once the entire outside is charred, peel it and the inside can be very sweet and tasty. This is my favorite way to eat breadfruit.
Step One: Prepare
You’ll need probably 4 medium breadfruit to make 2 cups of flour- I have yet to figure out the math though. The breadfruit should be firm and green. Cut it into quarters from stem to navel. The inside should be pale, not yellow- yellow means ripe and sweet- it won’t slice easily because it’s soft and it doesn’t dry as readily. I know this from experience.
Peel the skin from the breadfruit with a sharp, smooth blade knife and cut out the center of seeds.
Now, the slicing of the breadfruit is debated and probably the most heavily trial-and-errored. At first I sliced very thin from the tip of each wedge:
For some reason I felt this process getting long, so I tried slicing along the wedge:
Either way you slice it (pun intended), the idea is a lot like slicing cheese- the thinner and more even the better.
At the workshop, my supervisor had cut hers into very tiny chunks but they took long to dry. The other farmer cut hers a little thick, and I think they actually ripened in the sun- they began to get musty and we can’t use them now.
Step Two: Dry
My perceptions of dry breadfruit drastically changed before and after the flour making process. While the majority of my breadfruit WAS dry, there were some pieces that were not and they caused problems in the process.
This is my first batch dried before the workshop. See how white and pretty?
For my next trial, I am going to use the large side of the cheese grater. Small pieces are easier to dry and to mill. Thin pieces in direct sunlight should take 3-5 hours to dry completely- beware of wind- it can be helpful but secure your space or you’ll have breadfruit flying everywhere.
The drying surface should be breathable and clean- I used newspaper and my old broken hammock cloth. Zinc was also recommended as well as shade cloth strung between two trees to allow moisture to escape from all sides.
Step 3: Workshop (Or, An Attempt to Mill)
We convened at the CDC container on the day of the workshop to find that the mill that had been donated to us by Trees that Feed (look them up, I can’t hyperlink without internet) was put together for the sake of keeping parts together, not because it was done correctly. So us three women spent the better part of an hour and a half screwing, unscrewing, trying and failing and finally succeeding at building the mill properly. I was enthusiastic and glad there were no men around to stifle our creative flow (“Yuh doin it wrong gyal, top ee, lemme do ee”, “Nuh man dat nuh right!” etc etc). I don’t know what this says about me but, while I have no patience with puzzles, give me a knot to untie and I’ll sit for hours. This was more like a knot than a puzzle.
We finally figured it out!
I now know the inner workings of this mill better than anyone- except maybe the engineers themselves.
You’ll know that the breadfruit is not properly dried because it will get chunky and those chunks get stuck in the gears. Like I said above, moist breadfruit is spongy, so when it goes through the grinder in the mill it just compresses instead of breaking apart into a powder. We decided to leave this first batch in the sun to dry and re-mill it this coming week. The good thing about breadfruit is that, if it doesn’t turn and get musty, it can always dry more, and after that nothing needs to be done except keep it in a cool dry place until a use is found. I plan to sift this flour tonight and try making dumplings with the good part.
Anything you make with wheat flour, you can make with breadfruit flour. Apparently.
Thanks for sticking with me- I’ll be reporting on more small successes as they come on this front.
All my love from the tropics, and Happy Thanksgiving to my family a friends- I will be there in spirit, making you breadfruit flour bread or biscuits or something infused with a little Jamaica. Blessings! <3
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