Africa: Jackfruit

Here is a fruit that I had never seen or heard about until I went to Africa.
It's called Jackfruit.
Here it is hanging on a tree.
Can you believe this sucker stays attached by a vine?
The thing is a monster.
Below is a pile of picked jackfruits. Notice the bananas at the base of the pile.
This gives you an idea of their size.
Here's the cool thing. When you open up the jackfruit, you'd expect something solid inside, like watermelon or, oh I don't know, ONE FRUIT.
But when you open it, there's a gazillion of these little critters:

Individual fruits! Weird, huh! So I was excited. It looks fun and appetizing -- like a mango and a jalepeno mated!
Mmmm... but don't be deceived.
You know how some food may taste good, but you can't get past the smell?

That's jackfruit!

I'm not exaggerating or embellishing when I say that jackfruit smells like a pair of old dirty socks mated with a smelly ninth grade boy.

Who can eat anything that smells like B.O.?
My gag reflex took over and said, "No, no, Ridiculous Girl, you will not do such madness."

But jackfruit is very popular among the rural Ugandans because you get a lot of bang for your buck. It's full of carbs so it's really filling. It lasts a long time too (see the size above).
Yes, in a corn-filled field, it's nice to see something with Vitamin A, C, Calcium, and Iron.
Just plug your nose. It's rank!