Guyabano (Soursop)
Scientific name:  Annona muricata
 
It is generally known in most Spanish-speaking countries as guanabana; in E1 Salvador, as guanaba; in Guatemala, as huanaba; in Mexico, often as zopote de viejas, or cabeza de negro; in Venezuela, as catoche or catuche; in Argentina, as anona de puntitas or anona de broquel; in Bolivia, sinini; in Brazil, araticum do grande, graviola, or jaca do Para; in the Netherlands Antilles, sorsaka or zunrzak, the latter name also used in Surinam andJava; in French-speaking areas of the West Indies, West Africa, and Southeast Asia, especially North Vietnam, it is known as corossol, grand corossol, corossol epineux, or cachiman epineux. In Malaya it may be called durian belanda, durian maki; or seri kaya belanda; in Thailand, thu-rian-khack. 

The soursop tree is low-branching and bushy but slender because of its upturned limbs, and
 reaches a height of 25 or 30 ft (7.5-9 m). Young branchlets are rusty-hairy. The malodorous leaves, normally evergreen, are
alternate, smooth, glossy, dark green on the upper surface, lighter beneath; oblong, elliptic or narrowobovate, pointed at both ends, 2 1/2 to 8 in (6.25-20 cm) long and 1 to 2 1/2 in (2.5-6.25 cm) wide. The flowers, which are borne singly, may emerge anywhere on the trunk, branches or twigs. They are short stalked, 1 1/2 to 2 in (4 5 cm) long, plump, and triangular-conical, the 3 fleshy, slightly spreading, outer petals yellow-green, the 3 close-set inner petals pale-yellow.  The fruit is more or less oval or heart-shaped, some times irregular, lopsided or curved, due to improper carper development or insect injury. The size ranges from 4 to 12 in (10-30 cm) long and up to 6 in (15 cm) in width, and the weight may be up to 10 or 15 lbs (4.5-6.8 kg). The fruit is compound and covered with a reticulated, leathery-appearing but tender, inedible, bitter skin from which protrude few or many stubby, or more elongated and curved, soft, pliable "spines". The tips break off easily when the fruit is fully ripe. The skin is dark-green in the immature fruit, becoming slightly yellowish-green before the mature fruit is soft to the touch. Its inner surface is cream-colored and granular and separates easily from the mass of snow-white, fibrous, juicy segments—much like flakes of raw fish—surrounding the central, soft-pithy core. In aroma, the pulp is somewhat pineapple-like, but its musky, subacid to acid flavor is unique. Most of the closely-packed segments are seedless. In each fertile segment there is a single oval, smooth, hard, black seed, l/2 to 3/4 in (1.25-2 cm) long; and a large fruit may contain from a few dozen to 200 or more seeds.

Oviedo, in 1526, described the soursop as abundant in the West Indies and in northern South America. It is today found in Bermuda and the Bahamas, and both wild and cultivated, from sea-level to an altitude of 3,500 ft (1,150 m) throughout the West Indies and from southern Mexico to Peru and Argentina. It was one of the first fruit trees carried from America to the Old World Tropics where it has become widely distributed from southeastern China to Australia and the warm lowlands of eastern and western Africa. It is common in the markets of Malaya and southeast Asia. Very large, symmetrical fruits have been seen on sale in South Vietnam. It became well established at an early date in the Pacific Islands. The tree has been raised successfully but has never fruited in Israel.

In Florida, the soursop has been grown to a limited extent for possibly 110 years. Sturtevant noted that it was not included by
Atwood among Florida fruits in 1867 but was listed by the American Pomological Society in 1879. A tree fruited at the home of John Fogarty of Manatee before the freeze of 1886. In the southeastern part of the state and especially on the Florida Keys, it is often planted in home gardens.

In regions where sweet fruits are preferred, as in South India and Guam, the soursop has not enjoyed great popularity. It is grown only to a limited extent in Madras. However, in the East Indies it has been acclaimed one of the best local fruits. In Honolulu, the fruit is occasionally sold but the demand exceeds the supply. The soursop is one of the most abundant fruits in the Dominican Republic and one of the most popular in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Colombia and northeastern Brazil.

In 1887, Cuban soursops were selling in Key West, Florida, at 10 to 50 cents apiece. In 1920, Wilson Popenoe wrote that: "In the large cities of tropical America, there is a good demand for the fruits at all times of the year, a demand which is not adequately met at present." The island of Grenada produces particularly large and perfect soursops and regularly delivers them by boat to the market of Port-of Spain because of the shortage in Trinidad. In Colombia, where the soursop is generally large, well-formed and of high quality, this is one of the 14 tropical fruits recommended by the Instituto Latinoamericano de Mercadeo Agricola for large-scale planting and marketing. Soursops produced in small plots, none over 5 acres (2.27 ha), throughout Venezuela supply the processing plants where the frozen concentrate is packed in 6 oz (170 g) cans. In 1968, 2,266 tons (936 MT) of juice were processed in Venezuela. The strained pulp is also preserved commercially in Costa Rica. There are a few commercial soursop plantations near the south coast of Puerto Rico and several processing factories. In 1977, the Puerto Rican crop totaled 219,538 lbs (99,790 kg).

At the First International Congress of Agricultural and Food Industries of the Tropical and Subtropical Zones, held in 1964,
scientists from the Research Laboratories of Nestle Products in Vevey, Switzerland, presented an evaluation of lesser-known
tropical fruits and cited the soursop, the guava and passionfruit as the 3 most promising for the European market, because of their distinctive aromatic qualities and their suitability for processing in the form of preserved pulp, nectar and jelly.

The soursop is truly tropical. Young trees in exposed places in southem Florida are killed by only a few degrees of frost. The trees that survive to fruiting age on the mainland are in protected situations, close to the south side of a house and sometimes near a source of heat. Even so, there will be temporary defoliation and interruption of fruiting when the temperature drops to near freezing. In Key West, where the tropical breadfruit thrives, the soursop is perfectly at home. In Puerto Rico, the tree is said to prefer an altitude between 800 and 1,000 ft (244300 m), with moderate humidity, plenty of sun and shelter from strong winds.

The soursop is usually grown from seeds. They should be sown in flats or containers and kept moist and shaded. Germination takes from 15 to 30 days. Selected types can be reproduced by cuttings or by shield-budding. Soursop seedlings are generally the best stock for propagation, though grafting onto custard apple (Annona reticulata), the mountain soursop (A. montana), or pond apple (A. glabra), is usually successful. The pond apple has a dwarfing effect. Grafts on sugar apple (A. squamosa) and cherimoya (A. cherimola) do not live for long, despite the fact that the soursop is a satisfactory rootstock for sugar apple in Ceylon and India.
 

Back to Main Fruits Page