Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VM)

Mangalore, Jul 9: The Sarosh Institute of Hotel Administration in association with Chowtara Krishi and Samskriti Vedike, Miyapadavu organized a day-long workshop on ‘Versatility of Jackfruit in Cooking’ at their college campus on Tuesday July 9.

MLA J R Lobo, chief guest of the programme inaugurated the workshop by lighting the lamp. He was accompanied by corporator Sudesh Shetty, Dr Jayaprakash, agriculturist; Shree Padre, managing editor of Adike Patrike and others.

Speaking on the occasion, J R Lobo said, "It is a unique opportunity for people especially in hotel management as they can learn about the various delicacies prepared from jackfruit.

"Earlier, we treated the jackfruit as a common fruit and agriculturists never really cared much about it. But today, various programmes are being organized to spread the importance of jackfruit and various innovations have taken place," he said.

Stating that jackfruit has a great future in the market as many value added items can be prepared from it, Lobo said, "We find many fruits getting wasted in several places. In this regard, a strategy must be chalked out so that proper waste management can be done."

Various delicacies were made using jackfruit by the students with the help from Chowtara Krishi and Samskriti Vedike and were displayed during the workshop.

Speaking to Daijiworld, Dr Chandrashekar Chowta, scientist and agriculturist from Chowtara Krishi and Samskriti Vedike said, "Jackfruit has lost its importance in the past three decades. We are trying to bring it back to the mainstream by organizing these kinds of programmes."

"Jackfruit, known as the poor man's food, is gaining importance these days as even countries like Vietnam are growing it. This is the only fruit which is totally organic and also nutritive," said Dr Chowta, adding that a multiple of dishes can be prepared from it.

Various jackfruit delicacies like jackfruit manchurian, jellies, dosa, guliyappam, roti, parata, payasam, halwa were prepared by those who participated in the workshop.