Everything about The Cherimoya totally explained
The
cherimoya (
Annona cherimola) is a species of
Annona native to the
Andean-highland valleys of
Bolivia,
Peru and
Ecuador. It is a deciduous or semi-evergreen
shrub or small
tree reaching 7 m tall. The
leaves are alternate, simple, oblong-lanceolate, 7-15 cm long and 6-10 cm broad. The
flowers are produced in small clusters, each flower 2-3 cm across, with six petals, yellow-brown, often spotted purple at the base.
The
fruit is oval, often slightly oblique, 10-20 cm long and 7-10 cm diameter, with a smooth or slightly tuberculated skin. The fruit flesh is white, and has numerous
seeds embedded in it.
Mark Twain called the cherimoya "the most delicious fruit known to men."
The
Moche culture of Peru had a fascination with agriculture and represented fruits and vegetables in their art. Cherimoyas were often depicted in their ceramics.
Etymology
The name originates from the
Quechua word
chirimuya, which means "cold seeds," because the plant grows at high altitudes.
Cultivation and uses
The tree thrives throughout the tropics at altitudes of 1300-2600m (4,000-8,500feet). The name derives from
Quechua chirimuya, meaning 'cold seeds', since the seeds will germinate at higher altitudes. Though sensitive to frost, it must have periods of cool temperatures or the tree will gradually go dormant. The indigenous inhabitants of the
Andes say that although the cherimoya can't stand snow, it does like to see it in the distance. It is cultivated in many places throughout the
Americas, including
California, where it was introduced in 1871, and Hawaii. In the
Mediterranean region, it's cultivated mainly in southern
Spain,
Madeira,
Egypt and
Israel. The first planting in
Italy was in 1797 and it became a favored crop in the Province of
Reggio Calabria. It is also grown in Taiwan and
New Zealand.
The fruit is fleshy and soft, sweet, white in color, with a sherbet-like texture, which gives it its secondary name, custard apple. Some characterize the flavor as a blend of banana, pineapple, and strawberry. Others describe it as tasting like commercial bubblegum. Similar in size to a grapefruit, it has large, glossy, dark seeds that are easily removed. The seeds are poisonous if crushed open and can be used as an insecticide. One should also avoid eating the skin as it may cause paralysis from 4 to 5 hours. When ripe the skin is green and gives slightly to pressure, similar to the
avocado.
When shopping, one should look for large fruit which is uniformly green. Avoid fruits with cracks or mostly browned skin. Ripe fruit may be kept in the refrigerator, but it's best to let immature cherimoyas ripen at room temperature, until it yields to gentle pressure.
Different varieties have different characteristics of flavor, texture, and fruit shape contours.
Contours can range from imprint areoles, flat areoles, slight bump or point areoles, full areoles - and combinations of the above. The flavor of the flesh ranges from mellow sweet to tangy/acidic sweet, with variable suggestions of pineapple, banana, pear, papaya, strawberry/'berry', and/or apple, depending on the variety. The usual characterization of flavor is 'pineapple/banana' flavor, similar to the flavor of the Monstera deliciosa fruit.
When the fruit is soft-ripe/fresh-ripe and still has the 'fresh' fully mature greenish/greenish-yellowish skin color, the texture is like that of a soft-ripe pear and papaya. If the skin is allowed to turn fully brown, yet the flesh hasn't fermented or gone 'bad', then the texture can be custard-like. Often when the skin turns brown at room temperature the fruit is no longer good for human consumption. Also, the skin turns brown if it's been under normal refrigeration for 'too long' - a day or two maybe.
Fresh cherimoya contains about 15% sugar (about 60kcal/100g) and some
vitamin C (up to 20mg/100g)
Pollination
The flowers are
hermaphroditic, but have a mechanism to avoid self pollination. The short-lived flowers open as female, then progress to a later, male stage in a matter of hours. This requires a separate
pollinator that not only can collect the
pollen from
flowers in the male stage, but also deposit it in flowers in the female stage. It is acknowledged that there must be such a natural pollinator, and while so far studies of insects in the cherimoya's native region have been inconclusive, some form of
beetle is suspected (Schroeder 1995).
Quite often, the female flower is receptive in the early part of the first day, but pollen isn't produced in the male stage until the late afternoon of the second day.
Honey bees are not good pollinators, for example, because that'll only visit flowers in the male stage to collect the pollen, and then not return.
For fruit production outside the cherimoya's native region, cultivators must either rely upon the wind to spread pollen in dense orchards or else
pollinate flowers by hand. Complicating matters is the notoriously short lifespan of cherimoya pollen.
Postharvest Handling
The optimum temperature for storage is at 8-12°C (46-54°F) depending on cultivar, ripeness stage, and duration, with an optimum relative humidity of 90-95%.
Exposure to
ethylene (100ppm for 1-2 days) accelerates ripening of mature-green cherimoya and other annona fruits; they can ripen in about 5 days if kept at 15°C (59°F) to 20°C (68°F). Ethylene removal can be helpful in retarding ripening of mature-green fruits.
(External Link
)
Image:Cherimoya_cut_hg.jpg|Split
Image:Cherimoya_fruit_hg.jpg|Ripe fruits
Image:Cherimoya_tree_hg.jpg|Tree
Image:Cherimoya_plantage_hg.jpg|Plantation in south Andalusia
Other names
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cherimoya'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://cherimoya.totallyexplained.com">Cherimoya Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
