Annona muricata
Every care must be taken on harvesting this fruit: if it is too green, the taste is affected; if too ripen, the weight (2 to 9 lb.) makes it fall flat on the ground. At the peak of ripeness, however, this prickly green fruit – the short thorns are in fact soft – has white pulp with plenty of black seeds, and several applications in the kitchen: juices, custards, jams, mousses, liqueurs, ice creams and pie fillings. In the North and Northeast regions, it is fried, boiled, and roasted while still unripe, as if it was a vegetable. Prickly custard apple, Brazilian paw-paw, soursap and graviola are other names of this fruit in English. In Brazil, the Northeast region leads the production.
