Jack of all trades | Bangkok Post: feature

James Anderson wants to know what causes the fruit of a large jackfruit tree behind the school where he teaches in Thung Lung, Songkhla province, to turn black and rot. "The fruit are huge _ the size of the trunk of a small child _ but they are covered with disease," he wrote. " [They have] large gaping dark black or dark brown holes with putrid brown juices dripping from them, and all eventually just fall to the ground rotten.

BROWN, BUT NOT OUT: The skin of the jackfruit turns brown as it becomes fully ripe and sometimes bursts open, but the pulp is unaffected and may still be eaten.

"What is this disease?" he wanted to know. "Is it caused by the Asian fruit fly? Over the course of the seven years I've lived here, I've seen many trees near homes where the residents have attempted to cover fruit, either in cloth or paper, but it seems they still go bad.