Post # 2- Guanábanas, Zaramuyos, and, to a much lesser extent, Jungle Sops
The guanábana, known in English as the sour sop, and graviola by holistic pharmaceutical companies, is probably my favorite new-found tropical fruit. Its taste is perfectly indescribable, though descriptions I've read saying strawberry, pineapple, and banana rolled into one scary-looking, scaly-like-a-dragon fruit do fit the bill. It is described as a cancer cure, which I cannot attest to, but its awesome power is unmistakable: at a market in Campeche, I got a little overzealous and bought two kilos of the soppy pulp, and, after thoroughly washing my hands, proceeded to juice the fruit, by squeezing it inside of purified water and filtering the fiber and seeds. After drinking it, on a trip to the beach, my eyes felt like they were shining out some strange light, and I felt for a fleeting few seconds like I might fly off, though I didn't. Generally I like to buy them whole, not the pulp, so I can scale them myself. When ripe these fruits are very mushy and must be treated with care, but the scales can be easily pulled off. This is a very popular ingredient for frozen sicles.
The Zaramuyo, saramuyo, or, in English cherimoya is a member of the annoni family, and is also a member of the guanábana family. It has scales like the guanábana, but you eat the cherimoya instead of juicing it. It is also not at all sour, being quite sweet. It has medium-sized black seeds, like the guanábana. It is harvested only in mid and late summer (Guanábanas are fairly rare, but can be found at any time of year). Mark Twain has said it was the best fruit he'd ever eaten. The texture of a guanábana is rough and unpleasant, but the cherimoya has a soft, almost creamy texture. The bigger cherimoyas are better, having usually less seeds and richer flavor.
Jungle sops- while the mango is native to India and imported to Mexico, the guanábana and cherimoya are native to Mexico. The jungle sops, however, are native to Africa, and are in the same family as the aforementioned fruits (not mangos). I have absolutely no experience with these, save seeing these giant freaks in pictures: if a cherimoya weighs a half pound to a pound, and a guanábana 1 to 8 pounds, jungle sops can weigh forty or fifty pounds, I believe being the largest fruit in the world.
The next post will be about my favorite animal.
Sorry if you have trouble viewing the photos. I took none of them other than the guanábana soy drink and the homemade guanábana juice (pictured next to the juiced seeds). The biggest is a jungle sop and the ones on the tree are Guanábanas.
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The guanábana, known in English as the sour sop, and graviola by holistic pharmaceutical companies, is probably my favorite new-found tropical fruit. Its taste is perfectly indescribable, though descriptions I've read saying strawberry, pineapple, and banana rolled into one scary-looking, scaly-like-a-dragon fruit do fit the bill. It is described as a cancer cure, which I cannot attest to, but its awesome power is unmistakable: at a market in Campeche, I got a little overzealous and bought two kilos of the soppy pulp, and, after thoroughly washing my hands, proceeded to juice the fruit, by squeezing it inside of purified water and filtering the fiber and seeds. After drinking it, on a trip to the beach, my eyes felt like they were shining out some strange light, and I felt for a fleeting few seconds like I might fly off, though I didn't. Generally I like to buy them whole, not the pulp, so I can scale them myself. When ripe these fruits are very mushy and must be treated with care, but the scales can be easily pulled off. This is a very popular ingredient for frozen sicles.
The Zaramuyo, saramuyo, or, in English cherimoya is a member of the annoni family, and is also a member of the guanábana family. It has scales like the guanábana, but you eat the cherimoya instead of juicing it. It is also not at all sour, being quite sweet. It has medium-sized black seeds, like the guanábana. It is harvested only in mid and late summer (Guanábanas are fairly rare, but can be found at any time of year). Mark Twain has said it was the best fruit he'd ever eaten. The texture of a guanábana is rough and unpleasant, but the cherimoya has a soft, almost creamy texture. The bigger cherimoyas are better, having usually less seeds and richer flavor.
Jungle sops- while the mango is native to India and imported to Mexico, the guanábana and cherimoya are native to Mexico. The jungle sops, however, are native to Africa, and are in the same family as the aforementioned fruits (not mangos). I have absolutely no experience with these, save seeing these giant freaks in pictures: if a cherimoya weighs a half pound to a pound, and a guanábana 1 to 8 pounds, jungle sops can weigh forty or fifty pounds, I believe being the largest fruit in the world.
The next post will be about my favorite animal.
Sorry if you have trouble viewing the photos. I took none of them other than the guanábana soy drink and the homemade guanábana juice (pictured next to the juiced seeds). The biggest is a jungle sop and the ones on the tree are Guanábanas.
