43 



The pulp or flesh is pure white at first, becoming creamy yellow 

 upon maturity. The young fruit contains abundant latex; the 

 old fruits are characterized by a strong and distinctive odor. 

 The fibrous material extends radially from the receptacle to the 

 rind, and is negligible in the better varieties; the total amount of 

 fiber is only four per cent. The fruit contains more starch 

 (25 per cent) and less water (25-30 per cent) than either the yam 

 or the sweet potato.* 



The breadfruit is never eaten raw, as it is unfit for human 

 consumption until thoroughly cooked. In parts of the Hawaiian 

 Islands where the swine are able to forage under the trees, they 

 greedily devour the windfalls, and become very fat. 



Excellent accounts of the preparation of the breadfruit are 

 contained in the narratives of the various Pacific explorers, and 

 are reproduced herewith : 



" It is eaten before it becomes ripe, while the pulp is still white 

 and mealy, of a consistency between new bread and sweet 

 potatoes. In Guam it was formerly cooked after the manner 

 of most Pacific aborigines, by means of heated stones in a hole 

 in the earth, layers of the stones, breadfruit, and green leaves 

 alternating It is still sometimes cooked in this way on ranches; 

 but the usual way of cooking it is to boil it or to bake it in ovens; 

 or it is cut in slices and fried like potatoes. The last method is the 

 one usually preferred by foreigners. The fruit baked or boiled is 

 rather tasteless by itself, but with salt and butter or with gravy it 

 is a palatable as well as a nutritious article of diet. Ovens were 

 introduced into Guam by the Mexican soldiers who were brought 

 by the Spaniards. . . . They are of masonry and of the typical 

 dome shape of the ovens so common in Mexico. A kind of biscuit 

 is made by slicing the fruit into moderately thin sections after 

 having cooked it, and drying the slices either in the sun or in 

 ovens. Thus prepared it will last from one breadfruit season to 

 another. The dried slices may be eaten either as they are or 

 toasted, or ground up and cooked in various ways. The Caroline 

 Islanders . . . follow a custom widely spread in the Pacific of 

 preserving breadfruit in pits, where it ferments and is converted 



* Hawaiian Planters' Monthly, 13: 315. July 1894. 



