Jackfruit Seed Kheer With Jaggery and Coconut Milk: A Recipe

In jackfruit season the seeds left after eating the fruit are usually mashed, fried or cooked in curries. On 10 June 2026 the lifestyle desk of Jagonews24 published a recipe that turns those seeds into a dessert: jackfruit seed kheer. Made with everyday ingredients, it uses jaggery instead of sugar and coconut milk instead of cow's milk, and is finished with cashews and coconut fried in ghee and a pinch of cardamom.

Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh. Its scientific name is Artocarpus heterophyllus; it belongs to the mulberry family, Moraceae, and is among the largest of all tree-borne fruits. In Bangladesh it is usually harvested in the Bengali months of Jyoishtho and Asharh, and it is grown most in the Madhupur and Bhawal tracts and the hill areas.

The seeds are usually boiled or roasted before they are eaten. A 2019 review in the International Journal of Food Science noted that, compared with other tropical fruits, jackfruit flesh and seeds contain more protein, calcium, iron and thiamine. The same review said the seeds hold around 55% moisture, so they do not keep for long, and that most jackfruit seeds are thrown away. Cooking the season's seeds into kheer or other dishes reduces some of that waste.

Kheer, called payesh in Bengal, is a pudding popular across the Indian subcontinent. It is usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery and rice, and is flavoured with dried fruit, nuts, cardamom or saffron. In this recipe a paste of boiled jackfruit seeds takes the place of the rice.

Jaggery, gur in Bengali, is an unrefined sweetener made by boiling sugarcane juice or palm sap. Unlike white sugar, the molasses is not separated from it, which gives it a golden to dark brown colour and its own flavour.

• Jackfruit seeds, 10-15
• Jaggery, 100 g
• Coconut milk, 200 ml
• Ghee, 1 teaspoon
• Cashew nuts, 10
• Chopped coconut, 1 tablespoon
• Cardamom powder, 1 pinch

• Peel the jackfruit seeds, boil them, then blend them into a paste.
• Mix the jaggery into a little water and add the seed paste. Leave the mixture for about five minutes.
• Add the coconut milk and cook on the stove for about two more minutes, then take it off the heat.
• In a separate pan heat the ghee and fry the cashews and small pieces of coconut until lightly golden.
• Pour the fried cashews and coconut into the kheer and mix well.
• Finally sprinkle over a pinch of cardamom powder and stir again.

According to the recipe, chilling the kheer for a while before serving makes it taste even better.

Photo: Gharouni / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, International Journal of Food Science, Wikipedia (Jackfruit, Kheer, Jaggery)