What is a Readfruit?

   The Osage orange is a common tree in parts of the United States. Farmers used to plant hedges of it on their farms. This tree bears fruits that look like green oranges. People often call them hedge apples. Hedge apples are pretty, but they are not good to eat. The Osage orange, however, has a cousin that bears big orange-shaped fruits that are good to eat. This cousin is the breadfruit tree.
   From its name it is easy to guess that bread can be made from its fruits. The fruits are not sweet like oranges and apples. Instead, they are starchy, like potatoes. If bread is to be made from it, a breadfruit is first sliced and dried. Then it is pounded up into flour. A breadfruit may also be roasted whole.
   The breadfruit tree grows only in very warm, wet lands. It is found chiefly on islands in the South Pacific. If a native of one of these islands is sitting under a bread-fruit tree, his dinner may drop into his lap.
   There are different kinds of breadfruit. Some kinds ripen at one time of year, some at another. In places where the trees grow, there is usually breadfruit to eat all the year around.