Differences between Buen pan, Jackfruit, Guanábana and Durian
There are four fruits that cause confusion and doubt in all parts of the world, this is due to their appearance among them. The fruits known as Buen pan, Jackfruit and Durian are native to East Asia, and Guanábana is native from México.
Although at first glance the people think that they are the same fruit, there is a great difference in taste and texture. It’s for this reason, that we’ll describe each one below.
This blog will help you distinguish Buen pan, Jackfruit and Durian and give you ideas of how to use them in different ways.
What is Jackfruit?
Jackfruit in English, Nankga in Malay, Jaca or Yaca in Spanish, is a tree belonging to the Moraceas family and has its origin in Southeast Asia, in the countries of Bangladesh and Indonesia. Its scientific name is Artocarpus heterophyllus.
It is a tree that reaches to measure approximately 10 to 20 meters high. Its fruits are the largest and have an elongated shape up to 90 centimeters long and 15 to 50 cm wide and it grows in tropical places with temperatures from 32 to 38 ° C.
The fruit Jaca has a weight that ranges from 10 to more than 110 pounds (4.5-50 kg) and it has thick peaks with a yellowish green color and a sweet smell (*).
What distinguishes this fruit is the taste of the pulp, as it is slightly acidic and sweet. In America, it is known as “the fruit that tastes like all fruits”, since in it you, can distinguish a mixture of flavors between mango, banana and orange.
It can be eaten raw and fried when it is immature, some people use it as an alternative product to meat or also as a smoothie. The seeds are edible too, in India they boil and fried them with Masala. Jackfruit has a high percentage of vitamin C and can stimulate the creation of white blood cells. It can also contribute to the decrease in blood pressure and some people use its root as an asthma treatment.
Buen pan or Breadfruit
The name of this fruit is called Buen Pan or Breadfruit because of the similarity of its pulp to bread. There are many varieties of Buen Pan, some of them are Artocarpus communis, Artocarpus incisa, Artocarpus altilis.
It is a native tree from Indonesia, New Guinea and Bangladesh, belonging to the family of Moraceas as well as Jackfruit. The fruit of the bread has a round or oval shape, depending on the species, and they are usually big compared to other fruits, nevertheless, it’s smaller than Jackfruit. It can reach 30 centimeters in diameter and weigh between 2 to 4 kilograms.
Physically it is very similar to the Jackfruit, except for the size and the peaks on the outside since they are not so big. Its bark is green, and its texture is coarse and rough, although it can vary to a yellow color as it reaches maturity.
The way of eating depends of the specie of Buen Pan, but dominicans boil the one which is called “buen pan de masa”, and they eat the seed from “Buen Pan en grano”, same as India, they eat the seeds with Masala. In the Dominican Republic and beyond its borders, interest in breadfruit, is growing. It is a product that continues to gain fame, ceasing to be an element that in the past was wasted in the rural area(*).
It is the most distinct fruit of these three, its scientific name is Durio zibethinus and it’s a specie of tree that belongs to the Malvaceae family. It is also known as “durio” or “durion” and it is native to Southeast Asia, same as Jackfruit and Buen pan.
Durian is a well-known tree, it reaches 25 m in height and its fruit is approximately 40 cm in circumference and weighs 2 to 3 kg. This is an elongated and oval shaped fruit covered with thorns with green or brown color, its shell is between pale to red, depending on the species (*).
Durian’s pulp is fleshy with a creamy texture like avocado and it has a yellow or orange color and a intense, sweet and pleasant flavor. This fruit is famous because of its smell, because you can be able perceive it from the distance and it may displease some people since it generally smells like rotten onions. This is why it is a fruit classified as forbidden on the plane.
Durian consumption is raw and the seeds are edible too, you can consume it liquefying it or making a cake with it. There are approximately 30 different Durian species that are known and all have a high nutritional value.
It is good to prevent anemia, combat the effects of stress, eliminate intestinal parasites, combat insomnia and anxiety, improve the immune system, among others (*).
Also known as soursop is a tree from the Annonaceae’s family which have a lot of species, the scientific name is Annona muricata.
The guanábana is a fruit that weighs on average 2.9 kg of, which 75.6% correspond to the pulp, 4.8% is seed; 12.7% corresponds to the rind and 6.9 to the rachis; its fruits are sweet. The tree is about 3-8 meters tall (*).
It is distributed in the lowlands of the tropics, at a height of 0 to 1,150 meters above sea level. In Mexico, it is found in the states of Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatan. Widely sown and naturalized in the tropics of America and West Africa.
Soursop fruit has a thin, dark green skin covered with soft spines. The pulp is white, may be slightly yellowish, creamy, fleshy, juicy and slightly acidic, measures 2-3 dm in length, and can weigh up to 4.5 to 6.8 kg.
The fruit is high in carbohydrates, particularly in the significant amounts of vitamins C, B1 and B2.
In regions where the plant is common, there are various medical uses for fruit and leaves among native people. In recent years, it has been said that guanabana extract has supposedly powerful properties to fight cancer. Although there are not yet in vivo tests of the guanábana, nor a compound of this type (*).
Durian, Jackfruit, Buen Pan and Guanábana are delicious fruits and have different flavors and ways to eat them, that’s why we should try each one of them, and we invite you to Taino Farm to try them.