The cherimoya, also called cinnamon or sugar apple, is one of the exotic fruits that are rarely offered in the supermarket. With a bit of luck you can harvest fruit from your own plant. How do you know that a cherimoya is ripe?

When is the cherimoya ripe?

It takes time for the fruits to be ready for harvest. It is only in autumn and winter that you can pick cherimoyas from the tree.

This is how you recognize ripe cherimoyas

  • brownish colour
  • Soft pulp
  • Easily extractable fruit stem

The fruits only develop their typical taste when they are fully ripe. To check if the flesh is soft, gently squeeze the fruit. If it gives a little, it is ripe and can be eaten.

The shell is edible

Unlike many other exotic fruits, the skin of the cherimoya is edible and does not need to be peeled.

The cores, on the other hand, contain toxic alkaloids and must be released. Pluck them out of the flesh and grow your own cherimoya tree on the patio.

let ripen

You can harvest cherimoyas several days before they are fully ripe. They ripen well at a temperature of around twelve degrees. However, you should only eat the fruit when it is soft and the skin is browned.

This is how cherimoyas are prepared

The creamy and very sweet pulp is low in acid and discolours when exposed to air. Drizzle sliced fruit with a little lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Halve the fruit and cut a cross into it, then the grainy flesh of the cherimoya can be spooned straight out of the shell.

The fruits are very tasty in fruit salads and as sweet cherimoya cream, which is served as a dessert. To do this, cut the fruit into small pieces and beat them with eggs, sugar, rum and cream to a creamy consistency. Then it has to be cooled.

An insider tip among gourmets is cherimoya with ham and horseradish.

tips and tricks

If you want to harvest cherimoyas from your container plant, you need to pollinate the plant yourself. This is quite complicated as the buds are male in the evening and female in the morning. With a brush, remove the pollen from the male flower in the evening, keep it cool and transfer it to a female flower in the morning.

Category:

Trees