Growing in popularity, breadfruit captivates Chef Gordon Ramsay in new series
Breadfruit, the storied, traditional tropical tree crop that has nourished people across the Pacific and beyond for centuries, continues to reach new populations as it grows in popularity and demand. The most recent high-profile breadfruit devotee: Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay who shares the joys of cooking and eating breadfruit in an upcoming episode of his new National Geographic series, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted.
Culinary enthusiasts, gardeners, and anyone curious about breadfruit will enjoy watching Ramsay’s colorful encounter with breadfruit at the world’s largest and most diverse collection of breadfruit trees at the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s (NTBG) Kahanu Garden in the Hawaii’s Hana Coast episode airing on Sunday, August 11 (10/9c), on the National Geographic channel.
After visiting NTBG’s 150-variety conservation collection at Kahanu Garden, Ramsay prepares a delicious breadfruit mash incorporated with venison to create a never-before-seen shepherd’s pie. Gordon Ramsay is among a growing number of chefs who are discovering why breadfruit is increasingly a favorite staple tree crop across the Pacific and in more than 90 countries and territories.
NTBG’s Breadfruit institute promotes the conservation, study, and use of breadfruit for food and reforestation, collaborating with partners, growers, and institutes to better understand and preserve this important tree and expand its use globally.
NTBG encourages people everywhere to learn more about breadfruit in a number of ways: Visit the Breadfruit Institute online and follow NTBG’s social media platforms; explore breadfruit recipes to learn about the outstanding nutritional benefits of this gluten-free starchy fruit; find out how to grow breadfruit successfully; and plan a visit to Kahanu Garden in Hāna, Maui, and McBryde Garden on Kauaʻi, to experience the beauty of the breadfruit collections and surrounding botanical gardens.
The Breadfruit Institute is a program of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (ntbg.org), a not-for-profit, non-governmental institution with nearly 2,000 acres of gardens and preserves in Hawai‘i and Florida. NTBG’s mission is to enrich life through discovery, scientific research, conservation, and education by perpetuating the survival of plants, ecosystems, and cultural knowledge of tropical regions. NTBG is supported primarily through donations and grants.
For more information on breadfruit, visit: breadfruit.org or email breadfruitinstitute@ntbg.org.