A jumbo jackfruit has been harvested in Feluga as the demand for this popular vegan and vegetarian meat alternative continues to grow.

Peter Brighton was astonished when he stumbled upon one of the jackfruit trees on his Feluga farm, just south of Cairns, bearing a colossal 45-kilogram fruit. While bananas typically weigh around 151 grams on average, jackfruit usually range between 5 to 15 kilograms, occasionally reaching up to 40 kilograms.

Although jackfruit trees can grow up to 20 meters tall, Mr. Brighton found harvesting the massive fruit relatively effortless as it had only grown 2 meters off the ground. He remarked, “We had a couple that might have been around the 30kg mark, but they’re sort of insignificant compared to this bigger one.”

Jackfruit, commonly utilized as a vegan and vegetarian meat substitute, is cultivated in the northern regions of Australia. It is particularly prevalent in North Queensland, Northern Territory, and Western Australia, with plants taking at least five years to yield commercial quantities of fruit.

Mr. Brighton opted for a natural approach to fertilization, avoiding conventional fertilizers. According to tropical fruits specialist and Far North Queensland resident Alan Carle, the jackfruit’s remarkable growth could be attributed to an unusually excessive amount of rain during the wet season.