Ulu – A Gift From The Gods
According to an ancient legend, ‘Ule or breadfruit originated as a gift of love, a sacrifice of the powerful war God Kuka’ilmoku, also known as Ku. Ku decided to live secretly among mortals as a farmer, he married and had many children. Ku lived happily with his family until a severe famine seized their island. His family was hungry and unhappy. When Ku could no longer bear to watch his family suffer, he told his wife that he could save his children from starvation, but to do so, he must leave them forever. Reluctantly, with a great sadness in her heart, his wife agreed. When she said yes, Ku descended in to the very ground on which he stood. His family mourned and waited around the spot where Ku had last been seen. Day and night they waited and wept, watering the ground with their tears. Suddenly a small green shoot appeared at the very spot where their father had disappeared. Quickly the tender new growth shoot up to grow into a very tall and leafy tree. This magnificent tree was laden with heavy, delicious breadfruits that Ku’s family and all their neighbors gratefully ate, joyfully saved from starvation. There is a saying in Hawaii: “Look for the oozing breadfruit”. Be like Ku’s wife, marry a man who always makes sure you have food.”
Ule or Breadfruit (Atocarpus altilis) is a member of the fig/mulberry family and is a staple food in much of the South Pacific. The breadfruit tree is quite impressive, growing up to 100 feet tall. Breadfruit is easy to grow, high in carbohydrates, and an excellent source of vitamin B and calcium. The tree is useful in many ways. The gummy sap served as a caulking for canoes and the leaves and leaf sheaths provided fine sandpaper for polishing kukui nuts and wooden bowls. Ulu was also carved into musical instruments, surfboards and small canoes.
Breadfruit first arrived in Hawaii in the canoes of the Polynesian explorers; these brave voyagers transported root cuttings and air layered plants on their journey of discovery. The foresight of the Polynesian adventurers has provided the islands with an abundant source of food for many generations.
If allowed to fully ripen, Ulu is a sweet and juicy fruit, however it is more nutritious when unripe and dense in starch. Breadfruits, before being eaten, are roasted, baked, fried or boiled. When cooked the taste is described as potato like, or similar to freshly baked bread (hence the name).
Breadfruit can be eaten once cooked, or can be further processed into a wide variety of other tasty foods. A common concoction is a mixture of cooked or fermented breadfruit mash blended with coconut milk and baked in green banana leaves. Whole fruits can be cooked in an open fire, then cored and filled with other foods such as coconut milk, sugar, butter and spices, cooked meats or other fruits and vegtables. The filled fruit can be further cooked so that the flavor of the filling permeates the flesh of the breadfruit.
The Hawaiian staple food called poi made of mashed taro root is easily substituted or augmented with mashed breadfruit. The resulting “breadfruit poi” is called poi ulu Because breadfruit trees usually produce large crops at certain times of the year, preservation was an issue. One traditional preservation technique was to bury peeled and washed fruits in a leaf-lined pit where they fermented over several weeks and produced a sour, sticky paste. So stored, the product would last a year or more, and some pits are reported to have produced edible contents more than 20 years later. Fermented breadfruit mash goes by many names such as mahr, ma, masi, furo and bwiru.
A blessing from the gods, breadfruit is one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more fruits per season. Many of the individual fruits may weigh as much as ten pounds each.
