Foodstuff: Cherimoya – Sybaritica

This rather interesting looking item with the attractive, rather reptilian skin, appeared in our local Co-op recently. It was identified as a ‘Cherimoya’ but, while the name was somewhat familiar to me, I doubt if I could have identified as a fruit. After doing a bit of a search on-line, I discovered that it  is native to South America (although cultivated as far north as California) and is also grown in southern Asia. Wikipedia tells me it is also known as a ‘custard apple’ in some quarters, but I have to confess to never having heard that name before. On tasting the fruit, however, it is rather apparent how that particular nickname came about…

On being sliced, the Cherimoya reveals a pale white flesh inside the thin, green skin. Scattered throughout, almost randomly, are dark, irregular seeds that are roughly a half-centimeter or so in greatest dimension. The flesh, although it is difficult to tell in the photograph, is quite soft and somewhat buttery, with a texture very much like an avocado. There was a mildly sweet and fruity aroma but it really was too faint to suggest anything in particular.

Here you can see the sheer number of seeds taken from a single fruit. They are, I discovered during my research, poisonous on the inside, and so it is important not to bite into them when consuming the fruit. One could, I suppose, remove them all before eating but there are so many of them that the remaining pulp would be completely fragmented (almost to the point of being mush). Accordingly, my wife and I each ate a half by scooping out the flesh with a spoon and then spitting the seeds out while eating each mouthful.

The taste, we both agreed, is very pleasant. Wikipedia describes it as being a ‘blend of banana, pineapple, papaya, peach, and strawberry’ but, while not exactly inaccurate, I didn’t think it quite that complex. There was a faint custard taste at the outset and then a fruitier quality develops that is reminiscent of a cross between a golden delicious apple and a banana. There was no tartness at all (at least in the particular fruit we sampled) and I found the experience to be a bit like eating an avocado, but with a flavor much more appealing to my taste. I read that some people like eating the fruit after briefly freezing it (comparing the result to ice-cream) and I think I shall try this next time I buy the fruit. This little item actually sold for $4.99 each, but it was nice enough to pay the price again.

…