My Thoughts on Breadfruit

My primary beat in my travel writing was the Caribbean. I’ve been to just about all the islands and in my travels, became accustomed to island food. A Caribbean staple is breadfruit, the green, oval starchy fruit around the size of a softball. In my Len Buonfiglio/St. Pierre stories, I use Caribbean food as the starting point for the stories. “Breadfruit,” which was selected to be included in The Best Mysteries of 2018, begins with the mysterious appearance of two breadfruit on Len’s bar in the Sporting Place.

If you live near a Caribbean market, you might want to seek out these not so attractive fruits (see picture above) and give them a taste. I discuss various uses of breadfruit in my story, but I thought here I could include a very simple recipe for roasted breadfruit that will give you an idea of what this fruit, that was brought to the Caribbean by Captain Bligh,  and the inspiration not only for Mutiny on the Bounty, but my own humble short story, tastes like.

“Breadfruit,” which was selected to be included in The Best Mysteries of 2018, begins with the mysterious appearance of two breadfruit on Len’s bar in the Sporting Place.

 ROASTED BREADFRUIT

2 Breadfruit

Olive oil

Salt

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Make an X incision with a sharp knife on the bottom of each breadfruit so gas escapes while cooking.

Rub olive oil over the exterior of the breadfruit.

Put the breadfruit on a cooking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper

Bake in the center of the oven for one and a half to two hours.

Remove from the oven, careful it will be very hot.

When cool enough to handle, peel the exterior hard skin off, cut in half, remove the core, and then cut into slices.

Serve sprinkled with salt.

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