Breadfruit is considered to have the highest yield of food calories per tree of any species on earth. In 1787, the Admiralty of His Majesty’s Navy instructed Captain William Bligh to sail the H.M.S. Bounty to Tahiti to obtain breadfruits and transport them to the Caribbean. The story of that voyage was the subject of motion pictures in 1916, 1933, 1935, 1962 and 1984. The first was an Australian production now considered lost.Bligh’s voyage was somewhat less than entirely successful, but subsequent efforts to establish the tree in other regions succeeded. Today the breadfruit is grown in tropical countries around the globe, including in the northern half of Australia.Breadfruit grows in the tropics, but has been seen as far south as Brisbane. If you have a back yard large enough to accommodate one, Breadfruit trees grow to around 25m high and are frequently as wide as they are tall. Some of the older varieties in New Guinea and Melanesia have seeds, but the more common cultivars have been selected for seedlessness and are propagated by cuttings.One mature tree can produce as many as 200 fruits per year, around the size of a grapefruit, but some varieties can be as big as a couple of kilos. Immature fruits are starchy and can be baked, boiled, fried or roasted much like bread or potatoes. As the fruit ripens, much of the starch turns to sugar, producing a sweet fruit similar to the closely related jackfruit.The ways in which you can eat breadfruit are limited only by your imagination and dictated by the timing of your harvest. You can cook it as the starchy part of your meal, whether as a separate item in a multi-course meal alongside meat or fish. Use it in place of pasta to create breadfruit lasagna, or in place of potatoes to make breadfruit au gratin or breadfruit vichyssoise. Add it to beef stew or Asian stir-fry or Indian curry. Mix it with coconut milk or with tomato sauce or pureed mangos or whatever suits your fancy. You can make it into flour or store it by freezing or drying it. The fastest way to preserve them is to cut them into slices or wedges then freeze them for later use. Breadfruit is an ideal addition to an edible garden. It is a truly generous plant that will produce a large amount of food that you can use in an endless number of ways.Image: ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock