In My Garden: Cherimoya's

Dec 23

I consider the cherimoya the best fruit there is. Ask anyone South of the border about cherimoyas and their eye light up. Why? It's like eating a delicious fruit salad in one fruit. There are many varieties of cherimoya. One of my favorites is Santa Rosa. It has the extremely sweet flavor combination of pineapple, banana, and guava.

Cherimoyas have a green bumpy skin, some fruits more bumpy than others. It looks like a cross between an artichoke and a dinosaur egg. The interior is creamy white with huge black seeds. I cut them in half and spoon out the fruit with the seeds, then eat the fruit but spit out the seeds as they are said to be toxic. It's kind of like eating watermelon before there was such a thing as seedless watermelons. Hopefully someday soon there will be seedless cherimoyas.

Cherimoya trees love the moist coastal air, with the fruits ripening between November and February, depending on the variety, when little other fresh fruit is available. I have five cherimoya trees in my backyard, on one of them I have grafted six different varieties onto it. I have been known to eat three or four a day on a good day! Cherimoyas are extremely expensive fruit, one may cost $7.00 and up. So if you love the fruit, it is wise to invest in a tree or two. When buying a tree make sure the variety you want is grafted to a seedling. Otherwise you won't know what you are getting. Also try to buy a cherimoya tree that doesn't need to be hand pollinated. It's easy enough, but time consuming, using a small paintbrush to transfer pollen from the male flower to the female flower. I would just as soon let the bees do it.

Cherimoyas are a wonderful fruit. I love them eating them right out of the skin with a spoon, but you can make a drink from it, you can even bake with it. My wife made some excellent cherimoya cupcakes one year. For more information on the fruit, just google cherimoya and lots of sites will pop up.