Sent by my sister, mystery fruit

it’s tropical, or sub tropical. this is delicious. I’m not certain what it is, or if it’s possible to greenhouse, grow from seed, etc. but I love it.

anyone know what it is and does anyone grow this? would love to know more.

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I think that’s a soursop. I never tried one but it is a tropical fruit so likely can only grow if you live in a tropical area or have a greenhouse

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100% it is soursop or in the Philippines it is called Guyabano. Very expensive fruit here in California, asian store sells that. Cost about $15-40 a piece.
I think it is possible in the greenhouse but they do grow very big.

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thank you, after looking it up it is a soursop. I’m hoping to try from seed to the greenhouse and see what happens. I’m in love with it.

It is grown commercially by pharmaceutical companies as a source of Annonacin, a neurotoxin that kills nerve cells and cancer cells on contact. It is micro-encapsulated and injected into prostate cancer, etc. Oral ingestion is not recommend because it passes through the brain’s blood barrier. Neurologists will not eat it. The lifetime medical dosage (by injection) is 90mg. A single fruit holds 20-30 mg.

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Guanabana, tropical relative of the pawpaw

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I’m willing to eat this one and will not eat the seeds.

I’m glad I’m not a neurologist. I’ll be able to eat one or two of these and one or two pawpaws a year!

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Cherimoya has perhaps half the content of Soursop. The concentration I quoted is for the fruit, not the seeds.

A safer fruit with similar texture and flavor is White Sapote.

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well, eating this one cannot do more damage than eating pawpaws every day as a kid all summer. I’m not going to throw it away it’s delicious. nor will I go searching for another thing like it.

I’m in zone 6. this isn’t going to produce here, from my reading, though I’ll sprout the seeds out of sheer interest

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Looks like soursop…take note not all soursops are the same. Some are bland, sweet, or mix of sweet with a bit of sour which is what i prefer. Textures also vary. The good news is, they’re mostly true to type so if you can grow those seeds, you have good chances of getting the same quality.

Ps the aril on that photo looks like high quality. Was it sweet with a bit of sour or just sweet?

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so, so sweet. tasted like sweet flowers. just amazing, no sour or astringent or tannic flavor at all.

my sister sends only once in a while and it’s always the most amazing things. last year it was several breadfruit, I dream of having more of those.

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@resonanteye

Looks delicious!

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Wild pawpaw has about 2% the concentration of Soursop.

I made no such recommendation!

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I’ve already eaten it, I resign myself to any bad effect :upside_down_face:

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It does looks like guanabana. When growing up it was used mostly for making juice. You break down the soft pulp in water and add sugar.

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Fiberless Cuban is a nice, named cultivar if you want to try greenhouse cultivation.

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Import of the juice is now banned.

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Usually you can find the pulp on the frozen section of Hispanic and Asian markets. Goya brand.

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Yeah, i really like guanabana. Just had a pint of Frutero brand guanabana ice cream. Great stuff.
As mentioned above the most accessible version is frozen pulp in Hispanic markets or sections of supermarkets.
It can have a gamey flavor that many can’t stand (like pawpaw) but I love it.

A side point: if it’s so much higher in acetogenins than pawpaw, I wonder why I’ve never gotten sick eating guanabana but I have gotten sick from pawpaws. This suggests perhaps that the noxious effects of pawpaw are caused by either something else or a different amount of a specific acetogenin.

Annonacin doesn’t cause temporary illness. It permanently kills nerve cells. When ingested orally it is circulated throughout the body and causes damage in a somewhat random distribution. The effects of a single fruit are negligible, especially on young people. Repeated consumption leads to widespread destruction of nerve tissue – a condition known as Atypical Parkinson’s Disease.

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