| Funky Fruit |

Happy Friday friends! I'm curious to see how many people know about Jack Fruit. It's a very popular fruit in Southeast Asian countries. These babies can grow up to 80lbs per fruit!

image from flikr

My in-laws were in town over the weekend and brought some by. Looks can be deceiving- these are spiny, heavy fruits- and the smell is atrocious. My mom has a saying in Chinese- "the worse it smells, the better the taste." Not a motto to live by, but it's true with this fruit! We had the fruit in my husband's car for a couple of hours before we got home. A friend of ours was riding around with us and he wondered why you would even try to eat something that smelled that bad. Here's what they look like inside:

See how we're peeling outside?? So the smell won't penetrate our house :) Peeling the fruit is quite the messy job as well. The fruits are these small pods surrounded by little 'hair-like' pieces that you have to peel away.
Then you remove the large seed inside each pod, and they're ready to eat!
My mother-in-law makes a ridiculously delicious dessert with this fruit all cut up. In Vietnamese, it's called "Che". She adds milk, coconut milk, jack fruit, fresh coconut, palm seeds, & red beans. It's served cold, over ice, and is SO perfect for these hot summer days!