Today it is grown in 90 countries throughout South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean, Central America and Africa.

[6] Its name is derived from the texture of the moderately ripe fruit when cooked, similar to freshly baked bread and having a potato-like flavor.

[5][6] In addition to the fruit serving as a staple food in many cultures, the light, sturdy timber of breadfruit has been used for outriggers, ships, and houses in the tropics.

[citation needed] Breadfruit is one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more grapefruit-sized fruits per season, requiring limited care.

In the South Pacific, the trees yield 50 to 150 fruits per year, usually round, oval or oblong weighing 0.25 to 6 kilograms (0.55 to 13 lb).

[citation needed] The closely related Artocarpus camansi can be distinguished from A. altilis by having spinier fruits with numerous seeds.

Artocarpus mariannensis can be distinguished by having dark green elongated fruits with darker yellow flesh, as well as entire or shallowly lobed leaves.

[5][6] According to DNA fingerprinting studies, the seeded wild ancestor of breadfruit is the breadnut (Artocarpus camansi) which is native to New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, and the Philippines.

One traditional preservation technique known throughout Oceania is to bury peeled and washed fruits in a leaf-lined pit where they ferment over several weeks and produce a sour, sticky paste.

[18] Remnants of pit-like formations with stone scattered around (presumed to line them) are often clues indicating prehistoric settlement to archaeologists studying pre-contact history of French Polynesia.

A traditional sweet snack made of finely sliced, sun-dried breadfruit chips deep-fried in coconut oil and dipped in heated treacle or sugar syrup is known as rata del petti.

[22] In India, fritters of breadfruit, called jeev kadge phodi in Konkani or kadachakka varuthath in Malayalam, are a local delicacy in coastal Karnataka and Kerala.

It is also eaten as a dessert, called ladob friyapen, where it is boiled in coconut milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and a pinch of salt.

Dipping sauce made from boiled ripe breadfruit similar to chutney using spices, sesame seeds, herbs, lentil, coconut milk, and fruit.

Both ripe and unripe are boiled together and mashed with milk and butter to make pastelón de panapén, a dish similar to lasagna.

Breadfruit flour is sold all over Puerto Rico and used for making bread, pastries, cookies, pancakes, waffles, crepes, and almojábana.

In Haiti, steamed breadfruit is mashed to make a dish called tonmtonm which is eaten with a sauce made with okra and other ingredients, such as fish and crab.

[26] Breadfruit however, exudes latex upon harvesting, causing the plant sap to adhere to the surface leading to the staining of the epicarp.

[27] Sticky white sap or latex is present in all parts of the breadfruit tree and has been used for glue, caulk, and even chewing gum.

[5] On Puluwat in the Caroline Islands, in the context of sacred yitang lore, breadfruit (poi) is a figure of speech for knowledge.

His family waited around the spot he had last been, day and night, watering it with their tears until suddenly, a small green shoot appeared where Kū had stood.

Quickly, the shoot grew into a tall and leafy tree that was laden with heavy breadfruits that Kū's family and neighbors gratefully ate, joyfully saved from starvation.

[30] Many breadfruit hybrids and cultivars are widely distributed throughout the Pacific though they are seedless or otherwise biologically incapable of naturally dispersing long distances.

To investigate the patterns of human migration throughout the Pacific, scientists have used molecular dating of breadfruit hybrids and cultivars in concert with anthropological data.

Results support the west-to-east migration hypothesis, in which the Lapita people are thought to have traveled from Melanesia to numerous Polynesian islands.

[10] The world's largest collection of breadfruit varieties was established by botanist Diane Ragone, from over 20 years' travel to 50 Pacific islands, on a 4-hectare (10-acre) plot outside of Hana, on the isolated east coast of Maui (Hawaii).