“There is so much you can do with the jackfruit,” Bushra Faisal says. She is a member of Chalissery Chakkakkoottam, a collective of 15 homemakers who are into making value-added products from jackfruit.
A resident of Chavakkad in Thrissur district, Bushra travels 18 kilometres to Chalissery in nearby Palakkad district whenever there is a training session or to sell homemade products at ‘Chakka chantha’ (jackfruit market). Sahida Aboobacker, another member of the collective, points out that very bit of a jackfruit can be converted into a new product. “We enjoy that process though it is cumbersome,” she says.
Chalissery Chakkakkoottam was launched in December last year and the members are part of a WhatsApp group of nearly 500 members. This is among many such collectives in the State making a range of jackfruit treats, thanks to Chakkakkoottam, a WhatsApp group of jackfruit lovers, which was formed in 2019. This group registered as a company, Chakkakkoottam International Private Ltd, in 2021. The company, located at Pattimattam in Ernakulam district, markets different jackfruit-based products through supermarkets and e-commerce platforms.
