Anjali Chakka……The Fruit to Taste……

A delicacy,  with Scientific name: Artocarpus hirsutus, seen in Kerala but most difficult to get hands on! The reason, they are grown on very tall and majestic Anjali tree. Some are grown nearer to the ground as seen below and can be plucked at the right time.

Anjali wood is almost equal in quality as teak and used for construction particularly the roof of Kerala style houses. 

The fruit has thorny outer cover like jackfruit and hence the name attachment, Chakka (jackfruit).

All the flowers won’t grow up to become fruits. Some like the long one with polen like cover on the left to the young fruit below, probably is for pollination and falls to the ground in a dry condition. 

We used to use this instead of candles to light and burst crackers as the little flame of a lit thiri will last more than half an hour (I think much more).

During the naughty hostel days, some of our gang members used it to produce a delayed burst of a cracker outside the warden’s room. Like a remote control.

Anjali Chakka has a place in my plans to grow exotic fruits……