Kerala agripreneur Rajasree R’s experiments with jackfruit win her the State Farm Award 2021

Rajasree has made over 400 products from jackfruit, the official fruit of Kerala

When we catch up with Rajasree R, she is in the midst of preparing jackfruit-based delicacies for a television interview. The agripreneur has been busy ever since she was chosen for the ‘Best Jackfruit Processor/Other Value Addition 2021’ award instituted by the Kerala Government. “It is an encouragement for me and for those who have been promoting value-added products of jackfruit,” she says.

While the products are processed and manufactured at a unit she runs in Panayil near Nooranad in Alappuzha, where she hails from, she markets them from her residence in Thiruvananthapuram. Besides value-added products from jackfruit, she sells products made of banana, tapioca and organic rice that are grown at her farm under the brand, Fruit n’ Root, launched nearly six years ago.

Jackfruit or chakka, the official fruit of Kerala, has evolved as a superfood with all parts of the fruit — carpels, seeds, rags, core — used to make a wide range of products.

Rajasree says that she has made over 400 products from jackfruit — tender, raw and ripe. In addition to jackfruit-based curries, desserts and snacks that Malayali households are familiar with, the list has burger patties, pasta, noodles, vermicelli, chocolates and more.

Even the prickly rind is not wasted, she says. It is an ingredient in dahashamani (a herbal drinking water mix). The rind is used also in tooth powder.

She has not spared the latex as well! It goes into homemade kajal ( kanmashi). “There are age-old methods of making kanmashi, using betel leaf, kayyonni ( bhringaraj or false daisy) and castor oil. I added latex as well. However, this product is not commercially manufactured,” she says.

She has also made soap and tea from the fruit but refuses to divulge the ingredients and method of preparation!