Sugar Apple: Sugar Apple is a “Sweetsop”. It is most widely cultivated of all the species of Annona, being grown widely throughout the tropicals and warmer subtropicals. It is a deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub or small tree with size of 8 m tall. The leaves are looks like simple, oblong-lanceolate, 7-12 cm long and 3-4 cm broad in length. The flowers are formed in clusters of 3-4, each flower, with six petals, yellow-green spotted purple at the bottom.
Taste– The fruit is generally looks like a round in shape, a little pine cone-like 2.4-3.9 in diameter. There are variations in shape and size. The fleshy fruit is very sweet to taste, white to light yellow, and resembles and tastes like custard. The edible portion coats of the seeds of this fruit generously like a gooey portion of a tomato seeds. Sugar-apple has a very discrete, sweet-smelling fragrance. It is a little grainy, a bit oily, very sweet and very soft.
Look-The Sugar-apple, also called bullock’s heart or bull’s heart, is the fruit that tree is a family of Annon reticulata”. This tree is a small deciduous or semi-evergreen tree sometimes it will reaches a high of 10 mtrs in tall and a native of the tropical that prefers low elevations, and a warm, humid climate.The fruits are always variable in shape, oblong, or irregular. The size ranges from 7 cm to 12 cm. When ripen the fruit it will become a brown or yellowish, with red highlights and a varying degree of reticulation, depending on variety. The flavor is sweet and pleasant.
Scientific Name:Annona reticulata
- Sugar Apple Tree
However, home landscape trees may be found by the side of the southeastern shore of Lake and in warm, protected locations beside the lower east and west coasts. Sugar apples are a common fruit tree in the home landscape throughout the tropicals and have been widely planted in south Florida. Small, open, spreading to upright tree with long, small branches trees are rarely exceed 15 to 20 ft in height and spread.
Trees are deciduous; however, From the severity of cool winter temperatures, the rate of dropping leaves are calculated and leaf disease pressure, which is irritated by late summer-fall rainfall. Flowers appear during mid or late of the spring season as trees flush in new vegetative growth. Flowers are small, about 1 inch long, produced singly or in clusters of 2 to 4 from the leaf axils.The flowers are composed of 3 green, fleshy petals, 3 small, ordinary sepals, and numerous pistils on a common receptacle.
- Varieties in Custard Apple
| Thai Lessard | Kampong Mauve |
The various Persimmon Fruits are distinguished as botanical species rather than as cultivars. The following are those most utilized for food:
Thai Lessard: It is also very highly regarded in tropical and subtropical areas. Fruits with sweet custard-like pulp are from 3 to 5 inches in diameter with a lumpy green skin and ahead maturity the fruit has a bluish or white blush. Some varieties are developed that have a red blush or red skin which are more attractive. At maturity fruits have a custard like white pulp with small black seeds and the sweet flesh is eaten fresh or used for milkshakes and ice creams.
Sugar apples make great container plants, so if you don’t have much space try growing these in a 10 or 15 gallon tub, and they will still reward you with a number of delicious fruit. Older trees may continue fruiting into January during warm winter. Trees reach full dormancy during cold winters.
Kampong Mauve: The fruit is round in shape or heart-shaped or ovate or conical, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, yellowish green, green, pink or purple in color with attractive nature. The surface is a tuberculate and covered with a whitish bloom. The pulp is white, custard-like, sweet and a little acidulous in flavor.
The carpels, both of which normally contains a brown seed the size of a small bean, go together loosely or not at all, the Sugar-Apple differing in this respect from the Cherimoya, in which it is difficult to distinguish carpellary divisions in the flesh.
- Nutrition in Custard Apple
Custard apple is not only a tasty fruit, but also has got lot of nutrition in it. Custard apple is a rich source of vitamin A, B and C. Tabulated below is nutritional value per 100g of the edible portion of custard apple. Other than the vitamins and minerals given in the table custard apple also contains Calories around 80 g – 102 g and moisture around 68 g – 80.1 g.
|
Vitamins (Per 100 g) |
|||
| Carotene | 0.008 mg – 0.019 mg | ||
| Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) |
0.085 mg – 0.129 mg | ||
| Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) |
0.096 mg- 0.185 mg | ||
| Vitamin B3 (Niacin) |
0.518 mg – 1.290 m | ||
| Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) |
15.0 mg – 44.4 mg | ||
| Minerals ( Per 100 g) | |||
| Carbohydrates | 20 g – 25.3 g | ||
| Calcium | 17.4 mg – 27 mg | ||
| Iron | 0.42 mg – 1.14 mg | ||
| Phosphorous | 14.9 mg – 32.3 mg | ||
| Protein | 1.15 g – 2.43 g | ||
| Fat | 0.5 g – 0.6 g | ||
| Ash | 0.5 g – 1.13 g | ||
| Crude Fiber |
1.0 g – 6.7 g |
||
Health Benefits of Custard Apple Minimum and maximum levels of constituents from analyses made in Central America, Philippines and elsewhere.
- Custard apple is rich in vitamin C which helps in neutralizing the free radicals in the body.
- The vitamin A content in the fruit makes your skin and hair healthy and enhances vision.
- It is also rich in vitamin B6 and potassium.
- Magnesium which is present in custard apple helps in protecting the heart from cardio vascular diseases and relaxing the muscles.
- It equalizes the water balance in the body and helps to remove the acids from joints thereby reducing the problem of rheumatism and arthritis.
- The fruit also has copper and dietary fiber in abundance which is responsible for a healthy digestive tract and helps in digestion that avoids constipation.
- Low level of fat, cholesterol and sodium content in custard apple makes it good for health.
- Potassium present in it controls blood pressure and fights against muscle weakness thereby helping us to keep you fit.
Custard Apple during Pregnancy
Custard apple is rich in copper which helps to form hemoglobin in the body. This is useful for pregnant women since they need about 1000 micrograms of copper every day. Hence eating custard apples during pregnancy is beneficial for both mother and child.
Infusion of custard apple leaves is used to alleviate pain during pregnancy. But it should be consumed in moderate amount since the root and seeds have slight abortifacient properties.