食品制造商多年来一直努力制定具有适当味道，质地和口感的肉类类型。但是，一个新兴的选择实际上是在树上生长的。
菠萝蜜是世界上最大的树培养水果，能够达到80磅以上的尺寸，在树枝和南亚和东亚的树枝上生长。它与无花果，桑木果和面包果有关。
It also has a dual identity. If it’s left to ripen, it becomes amazingly fruity and has been rumored to be the多汁水果味道的灵感胶。如果没有它，它的肉是牢固，苍白和纤维的，可以有“咬人”和肉的口感。经过适当的准备后，它看起来像是拉猪肉，并且可以承受与其煮熟的任何东西的味道。
Both variations are gaining traction with U.S. consumers and are appearing in grocery stores nationwide. The ripe variation is appearing in produce departments with other tropical fruits. Manufacturers like The Jackfruit Company are working with the unripe variety to consumers nationwide as a new meat substitute.
“我们喜欢我们不含麸质。我们喜欢菠萝蜜自然没有大豆。我们有一个不同的价值主张，”菠萝蜜公司品牌总监Alisha Stagg告诉Food Dive。
A new old meat substitute
Jackfruit grows in many places throughout the southern hemisphere, and is extremely prolific in India. In the subcontinent, where many people don’t eat much meat, “it's been consumed as a meat alternative for thousands of years,” Stagg said.
总部位于科罗拉多州的菠萝蜜公司正在将一些印度产品（其中大多数使用）带给美国消费者。该公司的工作是在全国大约2200家商店中，准备未成熟的菠萝蜜成为肉类替代品，并出售其四个品种-BBQ，Tex-Mex，Teriyaki和Curry。
“We added 200 stores this month,” Pabian told Food Dive. “Over the past couple of months the food service market, including both restaurants and universities, have been getting increasingly more enthusiastic about the product.”
The Jackfruit Company’s products are largely ready-to-eat. With minimal processing, high nutritional values and grounding in sustainability, the product fits in with many of today’s hottest food trends.
“We see ourselves in that minimally processed, whole food space,” Stagg said.
该公司还向食品服务实体出售“裸”菠萝蜜产品。斯塔格说，她喜欢发现厨师和大型食品服务公司如何使用这些产品。她在许多不同的准备工作中看到了菠萝蜜，从时髦的餐厅滑块到大学餐厅的俗气肉馅卷饼。
所有营养的杰克？
作为一种纯天然的水果，菠萝蜜有许多健康益处。
Its edible bulbs are made up of simple sugars such as fructose and sucrose that canreplenish energy and quickly revitalizethe body. The fruit is rich in dietary fiber, making it a good natural laxative. It also contains small but significant amounts of vitamin A, and is an excellent source of vitamin C, providing about 23% of a person's recommended dietary allowance per 100 grams of fruit.
菠萝蜜在B-复合体中很少富含维生素，也是钾，镁，锰和铁的良好来源。它还不含胆固醇，几乎没有脂肪含量 - 所有陆地肉和一些海食品中都有营养陷阱。
然而,史塔哥said, it isn’t a good source of protein.
“人们自动假设肉类替代品是蛋白质替代品，这是一个自动的动态张力。对我们来说，更多的是关于板的中心。更多的是丰盛，充实的用餐体验。”
Stagg said that company founder Annie Ryu has always been interested in bringing more research about jackfruit and its benefits to the forefront of food science.
她说：“我们希望能够谈论菠萝蜜的所有好处。”“ ...有机会与我们建立联系。您可以阅读有关绿叶蔬菜和癌症以及绿叶蔬菜等等的数十亿篇文章。仍然有机会了解有关菠萝蜜的更多信息。”
未来
斯塔格说，她不会很快看到水果的受欢迎程度放缓。菠萝蜜公司的产品迅速传播到该国其他地区和更多主流商店。在美国，水果本身可能开始更频繁地种植。
And the supply just keeps on coming. Stagg said that more than half of India’s jackfruit goes to waste. By extending the fruit’s supply chain, it helps with sustainability.
“The tree is so productive,” she said. “If there are no supply chains to bring it to market and to process it as a value-added product, it goes to waste. ...That’s the impact she [Ryu] has had and the manner in which it reduces waste and provides income.”
