Sugar Apple
Sugar Apple, sweetsop, custard apple
(Annona squamosa -- Family Annonaceae)
Sugar apple is the English name used in the West Indies and America for the fruit of a small tree native to tropical America, but now distributed in tropical regions throughout the world. Related to the biriba, the sugar apple is sometimes called sweetsop, as opposed to the soursop fruit. The sugar apple is grown in Southeast Asia and in Queensland, as well as in other places; but it is more popular in Latin America, the West Indies, and India, where it has been extensively cultivated for a very long time. When the British occupied that country, they called the fruit the "scaly" custard apple because of the scales which cover the greenish-yellow skin under a whitish bloom. What appears to be representations in ancient Indian sculptures led some authorities to believe the fruit was indigenous to that area, but this idea has been discarded. However, some still hold that the sugar apples grown in India surpass those of the West Indies. The range of sugar apple in America extends from Mexico and the West Indies down to parts of Brazil. In Cuba, its popularity rivals that of the mango. The pulp is white or creamy in colour and divided into numerous distinct segments, many of which contain a black seed. These seeds are poisonous and discarded when the fruit is out of hand. Since the fruit is very delicate and ferments easily, it cannot be exported.
