Soursop (Annona muricata), commonly known as custard apple has its place amongst a unique plant family, Annonaceae, whose members include the cherimoya, custard apple and sugar apple, or pinha. Native to West Indies and Mexico, they occur wildly in different parts of the world, soursop was introduced in the tropical regions of Africa around the 17th century, where they were grown as dooryard fruit trees in South Africa.

Soursop custard apples are dark green, medium-sized, oblong-shaped, and have shiny spines that curve a bit. The fruit is a sweet, healthy, and creamy addition to desserts and drinks. This strange-looking fruit however its benefits outweigh its cons.

Its seeds have a kernel (inner soft part) that can be toxic if consumed. Still, swallowing the seeds whole may not cause you any harm. Its unique taste has been likened to creamy pineapple and strawberry.

Benefits of custard apple

For people allergic to dairy products, custard apples can be a great alternative to dairy products. It has a similar sweet creamy taste, and the same nutritional value. Due to their creaminess and tastiness, these fruits make great shakes, ice cream, and smoothies.

The custard apple leaves are used for medicinal purposes in subtropical countries like India, Malaysia, and Vietnam. They use them to produce traditional medicine for fever, dysentery, constipation, cardiac issues, worm infections, fainting, hemorrhage, and dysuria (painful urination).

Recent studies on the custard fruit leaves show that they may have antioxidant, antiviral, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anti-obesity, antidiarrheal, and antitumor properties. These properties help fight chronic illnesses including cancer, and cardiovascular diseases.

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Although parts of the fruit are not edible this, strange exotic fruit is packed with nutritional benefits, from dairy-free alternatives to medicinal leaves. Including it in your fruit tree collection is beneficial for your culinary and medicinal tree growing endeavours.

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