Have you seen or tasted the fruit Custard-apple?
The Custard-apple fruit
The custard-apple is the fruit of the tree Annona reticulata. The fruit is brown or yellowish-green, with varying degree of reticulation. The skin or covering of custard apple is thin but tough and below the covering a thick, cream-white layer of custard like, granular, flesh is present, which surrounds seeds. The fruit is considered ripe when it is soft and develops black spots and easily opens with gentle pressure with your hand. . The flavor of the fruit is sweet and agreeable. The fruit is tasty and nutritious. Nutritionally it provides ample protein, minerals, vitamins and fiber. Custard-apples are only eaten when soft, and only the flesh is eaten and the seeds discarded.
The flesh is added to ice cream. All the parts of the tree have medicinal value. Custard-apple is also known as Sugar-apple, Sweetsop, Bullock’s or Bull’s heart. In India it is known as Sitaphal. Phal means fruit.
Ripe fruit
Granular flesh surrounding seeds
Flesh segments
Black seeds
Sharad
-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein
8 comments so far
justjoel
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917 posts in 1546 days
hardiness zone 7a
posted 161 days ago
Very interesting fruit, Sharad. Do you have any pictures of the tree itself?
-- There's a box?
sharad
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hardiness zone 11
posted 161 days ago
Jj I have a tree in our compound but it has been recently trimmed. I will take a picture when it grows. You may see the link http://www.indianetzone.com/38/seetaphal_plant.htm for some information but it does not give a good picture of the tree.
Sharad
-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein
OttoH
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hardiness zone 9
posted 161 days ago
Great information Sharad, you are always good at expanding my horizons! Thanks
-- My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~H. Fred Ale
MsDebbieP
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hardiness zone 5b
posted 161 days ago
well isn’t that interesting! Huh.
Never heard of this before.
Thanks.
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
sharad
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hardiness zone 11
posted 161 days ago
Jj the link http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/7054991 gives a better picture showing part of the tree and a raw fruit. Pl read the comments also in the link.
Thank you OttoH for my being useful.
Debbie I knew many of you might not have heard of this fruit which is very popular in India and other subtropical countries. They are currently available so I thought of introducing them to GT.
Sharad
-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein
MsDebbieP
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14061 posts in 2166 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 160 days ago
I appreciate it!!!
The world is an amazing place.
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
Radicalfarmergal
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4033 posts in 1429 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 158 days ago
Very interesting! The custard apple is a new fruit for me as well. Taste wise, is it one of your favorites Sharad?
-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi
sharad
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1546 posts in 1383 days
hardiness zone 11
posted 158 days ago
Yes Robin, it is one of the favourite fruits but not as favourite as Mango.
Sharad
-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein