JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-2.1.4.min.js"></script>
<ul>
  <li data-level="1">
    Upper List Item
    <ul>
      <li>Sub list item</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li data-level="1">List item 2</li>
</ul>

JavaScript

$(document).ready(function() {
	$("ul > li[data-level=1]").each(function(index) {
		var current = $(this).clone();
    current.find('ul').remove();
  	console.log(index + ":" + current.text().trim() );
  });
});