PLAVU- JACKFRUIT TREE PART 2 Continued from part 1
9. Varikka plavu and Koozha plavu There are two varieties of plavucalled Varikka and Koozha. It appears varikka plavu grow bigger than koozhaplavu. Actually there is a lot ofdifference between varikka chakka and koozha chackka. While it is raw varikka andkoozha chakka do not make much difference. Varikka has more taste. When it isripen, while varikka keep a little firmness and very tasty, koozha become moreelastic and less tasty. The smell of chakka fruit can be felt from at leastabout 100 feet. However Chakkavaratti and chakkaprathaman are mostly be made from varikka only. Some koozha will show 50% varikka quality. Theywould appear either varikka or koozha. While it is raw koozha chakka chula( the fleshy carpel ofjackfruit) also can be used to make chips, and 98% ripen koozhachakka pazham is also good to taste. Easily identifying is koozha chakka chulawould be thicker comparing to varikka. In the market varikka chula will be 10-00rupee if koozha is 5-00 rupee. Now chula (the fleshy carpel ofjackfruit) is sold as kilograms in Chennai. In varikka chakka the mullu(Spokes) will be less sharp and smaller comparing to koozha. The fully ripen stage is identifiedby the spreading of mullu (spokes). 10 Use of iti chakka Tender chakka is called itichakka. With in it seeds and its covering would be soft. This chakka is the one after about 15-20 days of its appearance. It is used to make dish thoran after removing theouter greenish surface. Some prefer to use it to make mezhukkupuratti alsocutting it in to pieces. Both are very good dishes. 11. Grown up chakka Chula from grown up chakka isused to make chips. The chula is cut in to pieces length wise. In Trivandrum the banana chip makerskeep a stock of this also. Both are equally costlier. In Chennai we get mostly bananachips. Chackka chula find itsapplication in dishes. Chakka puzhukku, chakka poricheri and chakkamezhukkupuratti are made using chula. In Tamilnadu also now these dishes areprepared especially in Brahmin homes. Earlier only ripen chula was consumed. The chula is covered with what iscalled chakini, a covering of lengthy layers. Cutting in to pieces the outerthick greenly skin and chakini and a few chula are also fed to cows mixing in Kaadi. 12 Chakka pazham Chakka chula can simply eat likeany other fruit after removing the seed with its toughcovering. Normally at a time a personcan consume about 10 chakka chula.Normally a chackka will have about 100 or more chulas inside. Chakka pazham is used to make prathaman, valsan and chakka varatti. Chakkavaratti can be preserved and can be used to make valsan later. The two varieties of chakka I hadmentioned earlier. Varikka and koozha. Varikka is used mostly for theprathaman, valsan. For chakka varatti and simply eating koozha is used. Priority is for varikka 13. Panrutti Thean varikka In Chennai we get varikka chakkacalled Thean varikka. It is very sweetand tasty to eat. Now a day mostly people prefer to take chula in packets thantaking pieces. Chulas are attached to a central stem in chakkapazham calledkoonju. If we prefer cut pieces/ full jack fruit are given by sellers. Duringseason in most roads we could see Jackfruitsellers in Chennai. Costis above Rs 300-00 for a medium jackfruit. 13.1 Chakka arakku While cutting and making topieces latex ( a whitish liquid elastic in nature will be coming out). It iscalled chakka arrakku.The person opening the chakka to make pieces would apply coconut oil in handand with pieces of paper remove the arakku. Arakku should be well cleaned inall pieces before removing chula from koonju. The arakku will be more in raw chakka. 14. Anjili(Wild jack) Anjili is another tree used forthe woods in construction of houses. Anjili will grow still bigger than jacktree . Normally while growing up to 15-20 feet the branches are cut off. It isalso a branching tree and may grow even 30 feet or more. The width too will besimilar to plavu to about 1.5 feet to 2 feet. The patta is used for fire woodas in Plavu. Kathal (heart wood) is usedfor making frames of doors, windows, door planks and window planks. In olden days it was used formaking pillars, beams , kazhukkol (rafts) and pattika(lath) also in tiled homes . Now most of the houseswith RCC roof use are limited to doors and windows. However still many makesmaller extensions with tiled roofing, anjili find its use in Kazhukkol,pattika and Utharam. People who maintaincow, cow shed is mostly made of anjili. 15. Anjili pazham(Wildjackfruit) Anjili pazham is very small insize about the size of a good mango. Raw fruit is not used. When it is fullyripen, fruit will fall down. Its chula very small in size about the little finger top segment isgood to eat only after removing seed. Plucking fruits isnot so common unless more children want the fruits . Skilled people elders willclimb up and shake the branches.Latex in anjili pazham is negligent 16. Piruthhi chakka-Katachakka-Bread fruit Piruthi is another tree smallerin size in the family of jackfruit tree. Its fruits are small to the size of a big mango. Thetree grows to about 20 feet maximum. It is also branching. Chakka is plucked when it is fullygrown and raw. I am not sure about the use of wood in house holditems. After removing the external skinit is used for preparing thoran and mezhukkuporatti. Normally in Kerala and Tamilnadu markets theyused to appear in shops and a chakka cost anything between 40-50 rupees. The mezhukkupuratti is very tastywith piruthichakka. This too has latex andit has to be removed as told for chakka. Here too latex will be less. 17. Chakka kuru(Seed of jackfruit) The chakka kuru from the fruitafter using the chula is dried and used to make mezhukkupuratti. The tough white external skin covering is removed from the seed usingknife and nail. IT HAS TO BE WELL REMOVED BEFORE USING. The mezhukkupuratti is tasty.However after food with chakkakuru mezhukku varatti, some people may havewarts. For this reason I avoid chakka kuru. Posted by R . Gopala Krishnan on 27-4-2021. Some of the information arerepeat from Sri Narayanaswamy iyer response for part 1 . This is a posting re written of anearlier posting dated 4-10-2010. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/623904565.910679.1619536162249%40mail.yahoo.com.
