Fruits of Acapulco: Cherimoya, The Most Delicious Fruit Known to Man, According to Mark Twain

in #food7 years ago

When I decided to move to the tropics, I was stoked about all the exotic fruit I'd get to try.  Honestly speaking, I've delved in but not enough.  Tropical fruits are often an aquired taste, as they often have very intense taste and textures.  A lot of them are very richly flavored, many are known to give you that cotton mouth feeling that can be pretty unpleasant. One fruit I heard about recently through a friend was Chermimoya, one that Mark Twain described as "the most delicious fruit known to man."  It's a spiky green fruit with a white custardy inside speckled with large black seeds.  Our friend mentioned he had heard about them and was looking for them, but couldn't find them.  I knew I had seen them at Walmart, so we decided we would keep a watch out for them.

Last night we found them at Walmart, for 74 pesos a kilogram.  We bought one of the fruits as well as a few other fruits in the sapote family that were right by it.  I'll share an article about each of those fruits as I try them. Yesterday we tried it and were surprised.  It had a smooth, nearly slimy texture to the flesh of the fruit.  The seeds were huge, I set many of them aside to plant.  It was really rich and tart in flavor with a bit of a wierd texture so it was hard for me to eat.  I figure if I grow enough of the trees, maybe I'll find a variety I can deem the best fruit ever. 

I did a bit of research and found out this is a subtropical tree native to this area.  It prefers cool summers and nights if it can have it, as it doesn't like to deal with seriously high temperatures, like desert temperatures.  It's supposedly pretty fast growing producing the creamy fruit in just three to four years after being planted as a seed.  This is more encouragement for me to grow it. They don't self pollinate so you'll need more than one tree if you intend to grow them. 

They've been described by many as a mingling of the following flavors: banana, coconut, pineapple, mango, strawberries and papaya.  The seeds are not true to type, so your results will be random.  As with most fruits, some varieties are better than others.  While I didn't really like the fruit I tried yesterday, which tasted like a citrusy peach, I may enjoy this fruit from another tree in the future with new eyes, and new tastebuds.  

Like many fruits, it's got lots of health benefits, many related to skin and nail health.   They've got remarkably high vitamin C content, as much as 35% of daily value in just one fruit.  They're also high in B6, Fiber, and antioxidants.  They've been shown to help with cancer treatment, making this another medicinal fruit.  They say food is medicine and it is!

If you find yourself in Acapulco, do yourself a favor and find the central market.  Buy fruit, both familiar and not.  It's a humbling experience because you find out just what you've been missing with the fruits you're familiar with, as well as just how unknowledgable you are about most of the fruits out there. This one has a short shelf life which is a big part of why you wont see it in stores in many places other than here. I've found that there are actually a great many tropical and subtropical fruit that just do not stand being stored, which is an interesting quality. 

Until next time!

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Well this definitely inspired a bit of googling! Apparently the flesh can be pureed for pie filling or mixed with lime juice (& ice) for drinking. It sounds like this could be a good substitute for bananas in a smoothie (I’m not a banana fan). Of all the things I expected to do before bedtime being introduced to the “custard apple” wasn’t one of them. Thanks for this.

I don't think that's a cherimoya. It looks like an atemoya.
The cherimoya looks like it has scales rather than spikes like the atemoya. The atemoya is sort of between a custard apple and a cherimoya. All three are awesome! The second to last picture there looks like it might be a soursop.
I'm not an expert, but I've eaten them, studied many of these fruits and pick them up in the international market when I get a chance. You might check into it some more.

Cherimoya

Atemoya

Soursop

Custard apple

Walmart doesn't know their own produce, evidently. Neither does google, but that's more expected! They look like their related, though.

@lily-da-vine it's the cousin of soursop
I love soursop I could a whole in one sitting!
and that would make 2 cherimoyas hahaha
it's cousin has made a breakthrough
these days, scientist are turning its leaves into a cancer medicine
the fruits itself is highly recommended for eating to cause its very high in antioxidants that fight cancer cells I wonder if cherimoya has the same quality.

nevertheless I'll eat both of them!

In my searches, I found that cherimoya does help with cancer, so you're right on that one.

@lily-da-vine oh wow nature really has provided us enough.
#til cherimoya also cures cancer thanks to you !

Atemoya is my favorite!! Guanabana is much more common though. It is supposed to be great for fighting cancer also known as Soursop.

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