Breadfruit ('Ulu)—Specialty Crop Profile

A breadfruit tree can produce 160–500 kg (350–1100 lb) of fruit per year with very little effort on the part of the grower.

Breadfruit produces abundant, nutritious fruit (i.e., high in carbohydrates and a good source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals) that is typically cooked and consumed as a starchy staple when firm and mature. Ripe fruit can be eaten raw or cooked, processed into chips and other snacks, dried into flour or starch, and minimally processed or frozen. Breadfruit flour can be partially substituted for wheat flour in many bread, pastry, and snack products. Seeds, cooked in the fruit and eaten throughout the Pacific islands—but rarely in Polynesia—are high in protein, relatively low in fat and a good source of vitamins and minerals. Breadnut seeds tend to be larger and sweeter than breadfruit seeds and can be roasted or boiled. In Ghana, breadfruit and breadnut seeds have been made into nutritious baby food. In the Philippines, immature fruit is sliced, cooked, and eaten as a vegetable.

Breadfruit is a cultural icon in the Pacific. All parts are used medicinally, especially the latex, leaf tips, and inner bark. The wood is lightweight, flexible, and may resist termites. It is used for buildings and small canoes. The attractive wood is easily carved into statues, bowls, and other objects. Older, less productive trees are utilized as firewood throughout the region. The inner bark is used to make bark cloth (tapa, siapo), but this formerly widespread custom is now only practiced in the Marquesas. Large, flexible leaves are used to wrap foods for cooking in earth ovens. The sticky white latex is used as a chewing gum and adhesive and was formerly widely used to caulk canoes and as birdlime (to catch birds). Dried male flowers can be burned to repel mosquitoes and other flying insects.

This introduction was excerpted from the full 19-page publication: Ragone, D. 2009. Farm and Forestry Production and Marketing Profile for Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis). In: Elevitch, C.R. (ed.). Specialty Crops for Pacific Island Agroforestry. Permanent Agriculture Resources (PAR), Holualoa, Hawai'i.

Original source of this article

This article is excerpted by permission of the publisher from

Ragone, D. 2011. Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis). In: Elevitch, C.R. (ed.). Specialty Crops for Pacific Island Agroforestry. Permanent Agriculture Resources (PAR), Holualoa, Hawai‘i. © Permanent Agriculture Resources.