Cherimoya Fruit

I was walking through the produce section yesterday and came across this very awkward looking fruit.  Turns out it was a Cherimoya.  Luckily, for non-Cherimoya buying consumers as myself, the fruit was labeled with a nice and tidy sign explaining its characteristics.  Whole Foods had the fruit labeled tropical,  with a flavor combination of banana, pineapple, and pear.  I thought I would give it a try – why not?

The Cherimoya is an oblong-ish fruit; my particular fruit happened to be heart-shaped.  About the size of a grapefruit, the cherimoya has a thin leathery skin and is ripe when it is soft to the touch (similar to judging a ripe avocado.)  The fruit has a creamy white flesh and large seeds, which are easy to remove. Cherimoyas are native to the highlands of Ecuador and Peru and grow on a shurb/small tree.

Inside a Cherimoya

So now to the taste….  I admit that I had high hopes, but unfortunately the Cherimoya is not for us (Scott and I, that is).  My first honest impression was that the fruit tasted like fake candy.  You know, a really cheap piece of candy that tries and fails miserably to recreate a certain flavor, ie a pineapple gum drop?  Anyways, that is pretty much what I get from the fruit.  The flesh is wonderfully soft – similar to a perfectly ripe pear.  Scott’s reaction (independent of mine) was that the fruit was super sweet and tasted like there was chemicals in the fruit to make it sweet.  I don’t get any specific fruit flavors (such as the suggested pineapple and banana,) but the flavor does oddly enough resemble bubble gum.

So this one was a miss for us, but fun to try nonetheless.  Next time you come across this odd-looking green grapefruit, you’ll know that it is indeed a Cherimoya and hopefully you will be brave enough to try it and create your own opinions.