Sugar apple (fruit): useful properties and calorie content

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Sugar apple is a fruit native to tropical America and the West Indies. Spanish traders once brought it to Asia, where the old Mexican name "annona" can still be found in various oriental languages in an adapted form - Bengali "ata", Nepalese "aatl", Burmese "aaya" and Filipino "attis". It is also known as cream apple in the Philippines.

What is a sugar apple (photo below)

The fruits of this culture are round conical in shape, 5-10 cm in diameter and 6-10 cm in length. On average, one sugar apple weighs 100-240 grams. The fruit has a thick skin, consisting of knotty segments. Color tends to range from pale green to blue-green, with dark pink blotches in some cultivars. Inside, the fruit is divided into segments that become pronounced during ripening.

What does fruit taste like?

Annona flesh is fragrant and sweet, and can be creamy white to light yellow in color. Its texture and taste are reminiscent of custard. Hard shiny seeds may be brown or black. Their number averages 20-30 pieces per fetus. Today there are varieties of annonas thatalmost pitted.

Where this fruit grows

This crop is a tree that grows naturally in the tropics of South America and is now grown in many regions around the world, from China to Africa. Without loss of fruit quality, the plant can grow in any tropical and subtropical regions, on various types of soil, and is moderately drought tolerant. This flexibility allows him to feel great on five continents. Annonu is grown most intensively in India, where more than a dozen cultivars have been identified by gardeners.

Varieties and hybrids

Among the most famous Indian subspecies is the red Annona, which is distinguished by a dark pink skin and a more insipid taste. The sugar content in these fruits is the smallest. The yellow sugar apple, on the other hand, has a rich sweet taste, its flesh is white and very soft.

The seedless "Cuban" sugar apple was first developed in the state of Florida in 1955, when a very meager crop of slightly deformed fruit was obtained with simple remnants of undeveloped seeds. The taste of Annona was less attractive than that of normal fruits, but it reproduced vegetatively and actively spread as a progressive novelty. Another type of seedless fruit was introduced from Brazil around the same time. Today, these varieties have undergone some evolution, and their palatability has been greatly improved.

Currently being created and newvarieties, predominantly in Taiwan. Atemoya (pineapple apple), or a hybrid of cherimoya and sugar apple, is popular in some Asian regions, despite being first introduced in the US in 1908. The fruit is similar in sweetness and texture to a sugar apple, but has a completely different taste - as the name suggests, very similar to the taste of pineapple. The location of the seeds is also different - in atemoy they are in segments spaced apart from each other, that is, the pulp will not hold the seeds.

Toxic feature

The sugar apple is a popular sweet fruit in many tropical regions. However, it can also be used as a natural pesticide. When consuming the sugar apple, the seeds, which are usually abundant, must be carefully removed as they are toxic if ingested.

Seed oil has proven to be as effective as conventional pesticides in eliminating various crop pests. It can be used to protect plants such as tomatoes, melons, soybeans in greenhouse conditions. In addition, subsequent tests have shown that the toxic substance remains as such for no more than two days, and is completely inactive after eight days. The same feature allows the use of seed powder in some countries as a treatment for head lice.

As sugar apple cultivation areas expand, this plant has becomebe planted alongside other crops, providing natural pesticides and enriching local crops with greater diversity. Annona may actually be more than just a tropical snack.

How is it eaten?

Since the pulp is very tender and juicy, a sugar apple (the fruit, the photo of which can be seen in this article), you can eat just like that, spitting out the seeds that accidentally fell into your mouth. In Malaysia, the fruits are often rubbed through a sieve, and then juice with pulp is consumed. In addition, sugar apple puree is added to ice cream or milk, resulting in a very attractive dessert. Annona fruit pulp is never cooked.

Sugar apple (fruit) - useful properties

One hundred grams of a ripe fruit contains 88.9-95.7 calories, which is a lot. Due to this energy value, as well as the high content of other nutrients (per 100 grams of iron pulp - 0.28-1.34 mg, phosphorus 23.6-55.3 mg, calcium - 19.4-44.7 mg), this fruit is recommended for people who need enhanced nutrition. In addition, the sugar apple from the tropics is rich in vitamins - carotene, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and ascorbic acid (34.7-42.2 mg).

Other Uses

Seed kernels contain 14-49% whitish or yellowish oil with a saponification index of 186.40. For this reason, it has been suggested as a substitute for peanut butter in soap making. In addition, it can be detoxified by alkaline treatment andafter that be used for food purposes.

The leaves of the plant also produce an excellent oil enriched with terpenes and sesquiterpenes (mainly B-caryophyllene), which has limited use in perfumery, giving scents a woody-spicy accent.

The fiber that is extracted from the bark of a tree can be used to make rope.

Medicinal use

In India, folk medicine says it is effective to sniff crushed Annona leaves to overcome hysteria and fainting spells. They are also applied to ulcers and wounds, and a decoction of the leaves is taken in cases of dysentery.

Throughout tropical America, a decoction of the leaves of one Annona or in combination with other plants is used as a means of stimulating menstruation, as well as an antipyretic, tonic, cooling agent. Such a decoction is useful both for the digestive system and as a diuretic natural drug.

Externally, a decoction of the leaves is also used in baths to relieve rheumatic pains.

The unripe green fruit of the sugar apple is very tart and is used against diarrhea in El Salvador. In India, crushed ripe fruit mixed with s alt is applied to tumors.

The bark and roots of the plant are highly astringent. Annona bark decoction is given as a tonic and also as a remedy for diarrhea. The root, due to its strong laxative effect, is administered as a radical treatment for dysentery and other similar diseases.