How to make a jackfruit slider, the pulled pork vegan alternative

(WJBK) - Summer barbecues can easily be a dreaded summer event for vegans. A tropical fruit making waves in the United States is promising to make things a little easier, though, and it's called the jackfruit.

Jackfruit grows in places from southeast Asia all the way to South America. The flesh, once you cook it down and add your barbecue fixin's, resembles the taste and texture of pulled pork.

Chef Griffin Wilson from GreenSpace Cafe in Ferndale showed us the inside of a jackfruit. GreenSpace is known for its eclectic plant-based entrees. You can learn more about opening up a jackfruit in the video player above.

You can also buy bags of barbecue-flavored jackfruit nowadays in the grocery store, too, which may be the better option for your summer barbecue. Otherwise, Chef Griffin says their jackfruit "meat" is typically cooked for 6-9 hours.

The anchors taste tested some of his jackfruit sliders and agreed they couldn't taste a difference. Heart doc Joel Kahn was in studio with us, too, and he says these jackfruit sliders are cardiologist approved. Plus, naturally, these will be much lower in calories and fat, and they're a great source of fiber, too.

You can try one for yourself at GreenSpace Cafe's new food truck. It will be at the Pig & Whiskey Festival this weekend. You can read more about Pig & Whiskey here.

Or, if you're ready to make your own -- you can work off of Chef Griffin's recipe here. (The recipe calls for the ready-to-use jackfruit bags from the grocery store.)