Jatiyo Phol (National Fruit)
July 22, 2007

Since I am stuck inside due to the copious amount of rain and because my Harry Potter book has not arrived yet, I thought I would create a blog entry on katal (or jackfruit), Bangladesh's national fruit. The katal trees are really beautiful. Since we are coming to the end of katal season, I had Hamida buy one for me today. Katals are very large fruits. Here is a picture of some of them for sales in the fruit market in Old Dhaka (I asked Hamida to buy a very small one for me...)

Katal in Market
Some of the larger fruits during the middle of katal season (about a month ago.)

Opening a Katal
Apparently you have to put oil on your hands before opening them, because the part that surrounds the fruit is very sticky (like sap).


Fruit
The inside has little fruit sections. Each piece is a like a separate fruit itself!


Seeds
There is a large seed in the middle of each fruit piece. Hamida tells me that you can cook the seeds and eat them...