Jackfruit Wine, Anyone?

That wines can be made from anything is an old argument. But jackfruit? Yes, apparently even jackfruit.

That wines can be made from anything is an old argument. But jackfruit? Yes, apparently even jackfruit. Just ask James P Mathew, a Kerala farmer who has perfected the art of extracting wine from this large fruit. A teetotaller from Palakkad, Mathew doesn’t like to discard any part of the jackfruit, even its seeds. “Most jackfruit crop goes waste in Kerala as there are no buyers; I thought the large volumes grown should pay some dividend to the farmer.’’

 So a few years ago, he started experimenting making wine for Christmas. Over the months, after dozens of attempts, he perfected his jackfruit wine. People who taste-tested it recently at a seminar on jackfruit in Bangalore agreed the liquid is light and fruity, but delicious. “It contains 7 per cent alcohol by volume,” says Mathew.

Though cheap to make, its manufacturing cost depends on the price of sugar. It costs just Rs 15 to prepare a litre if sugar is priced at Rs 25 per kg. “It tastes best with sugar as I have tried adding saccharine and jaggery.”

Mathew is ready to transfer the technology to interested companies for mass production. It’s also commercially viable for farmers. The wine is not entirely vegetarian as Mathew recommends egg white be added to the fermentation process, but the product is nutritious as it contains natural fibre, proteins and iron.

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Anil Budur Lulla