Sugar-apple

The sugar-apple, or sweetsop, is the fruit of Annona squamosa, the most widely grown species of Annona and a native of tropical climate in the Americas and West Indies. The Spanish traders of Manila galleons brought it to Asia.[1] The name is also used in Portuguese as ata.

This article is about the fruit of Annona squamosa. For the plant which bears this fruit, see Annona squamosa.
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Michał Boym's drawing of, probably, the sugar-apple in his Flora Sinensis (1655)
Sugar-apple with cross section

The fruit is spherical-conical, 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) in diameter and 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in) long, and weighing 100–240 g (3.5–8.5 oz), with a thick rind composed of knobby segments. The color is typically pale green through blue-green, with a deep pink blush in certain varieties, and typically has a bloom. It is unique among Annona fruits in being segmented, and the segments tend to separate when ripe, exposing the interior.

The flesh is fragrant and sweet, creamy white through light yellow, and resembles and tastes like custard. It is found adhering to 13-to-16-millimetre-long (0.51 to 0.63 in) seeds forming individual segments arranged in a single layer around a conical core. It is soft, slightly grainy, and slippery. The hard, shiny seeds may number 20–40 or more per fruit and have a brown to black coat, although varieties exist that are almost seedless.[1][2]

There are also new varieties being developed in Taiwan. The atemoya or "pineapple sugar-apple," a hybrid between the sugar-apple and the cherimoya, is popular in Taiwan, although it was first developed in the US in 1908. The fruit is similar in sweetness to the sugar-apple but has a very different taste. As its name suggests, it tastes like pineapple.

Nutrition and uses
Sugar-apples, (sweetsop), raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy393 kJ (94 kcal)
23.64 g
Dietary fiber4.4 g
0.29 g
2.06 g
VitaminsQuantity %DV†
Thiamine (B1)
10%
0.11 mg
Riboflavin (B2)
9%
0.113 mg
Niacin (B3)
6%
0.883 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)
5%
0.226 mg
Vitamin B6
15%
0.2 mg
Folate (B9)
4%
14 μg
Vitamin C
44%
36.3 mg
MineralsQuantity %DV†
Calcium
2%
24 mg
Iron
5%
0.6 mg
Magnesium
6%
21 mg
Manganese
20%
0.42 mg
Phosphorus
5%
32 mg
Potassium
5%
247 mg
Sodium
1%
9 mg
Zinc
1%
0.1 mg
Link to USDA Database entry
†Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient Database

Sugar-apple is high in energy, an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese, a good source of thiamine and vitamin B6, and provides vitamin B2, B3 B5, B9, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium in fair quantities.[3]

For uses of other fruit from the Custard-apple family see:

  • Sugar apple in Tamil Nadu, India
  • Sugar apple (right), with Taiwanese "pineapple shijia" (atemoya) (left)
  • The sugar apple readily breaks open when ripe.
  • A deconstruction of a sugar apple, showing a lobe of fruit and pulpy segments with seeds.
  • A sugar apple ready to eat
  • Red Sugar Apples from Myanmar
  • Sugar apples in Taitung, Taiwan
  • A sugar apple in Goiânia, Brazil
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See also

References
  1. Morton, Julia (1987). "Annona squamosa". Fruits of warm climates. p. 69. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  2. "Annona squamosa". AgroForestryTree Database. Archived from the original on 14 March 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  3. "Benefits of Custard apple". 22 December 2014.
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