Harvest, Ripening, and Storage

Jackfruit may be eaten as a vegetable when picked at an immature stage or eaten fresh when picked at a mature stage and allowed to ripen. Immature fruit is usually 1 to 3 months old, are green and may be harvested for cooking.
Mature fruit have 35 to 40% edible flesh. However, it is not easy to determine when the fruit is ripe. There are several fruit characteristics that may be used alone or together indicate a particular cultivar is mature. In many cultivars the skin color changes from green to light green or yellow. Maturing fruits usually develop a strong aroma and the peel spines flatten and widen. Green fruits have a solid sound when tapped whereas ripe fruits have a hollow sound.
Harvest fruit with clippers or loppers. The cut stem will immediately exude white, sticky latex; this latex will permanently stain clothing. Wrap the cut end with a paper towel to make handling easier, or set the fruit on its side until the flow of latex ceases. Care should be exercised not to let the fruit drop to the ground and be damaged. Pickers may want to wear gloves when handling the fruit. Place fruit in the shade until the latex stops exuding from the cut stem.
Mature fruit will ripen in 3 to 10 days at 75oF to 80oF (24-27oC). Before consumption the edible flesh is separated from the rag. As with harvesting, latex may exude from cut surfaces when extracting the flesh. To make clean-up easier coat hands, knife blades (not the handle), and work surfaces with vegetable oil. To clean the fruit, cut in half and remove the central core; then proceed to separate the flesh, seed, and rag.
Cool temperatures (<60oF; 16oC) may delay ripening. The proper storage temperatures for jackfruit have not been determined. Fruit pulp may be stored in the refrigerator and fully ripe fruit segments may be placed in polyethylene bags and frozen for later use.