Custard Apple
Did You Know
Custard Apples are a delicious, pleasantly fragrant fruit in the Annona family. The fruit is popular for its sweet and slightly tangy, creamy textured flesh. It is also known as bullock’s heart in the English speaking countries.
Custard Apples are a globular, round to heart-shaped fruit with polygonal indentations on its surface. Many cultivars exist, and depending upon the variety there can be green, brown, yellow, maroon fruits.
Custard Apples features tough, outer skin. Inside, individual arils consist of cream-white sheath enveloping single, glossy, deep brown color seeds. The flesh just underneath its surface has a granular texture. Skin and seeds are inedible and discarded. Its flavor described as a reminiscence of mangosteen, sweet and pleasantly tangy, melts inside the mouth.
Custard Apples scientific name is Annona reticulata.
Like avocados, Custard Apples can take a long time to ripen but once ripe, it quickly deteriorates.
Health Benefits
Custard Apples are high in calories with 300 grams of the fruit having about 170 calories.
Custard Apples are high in fiber and is a good source of vitamin C and calcium. It also contains niacin and phosphorus.
Custard Apples also helps to reduce inflammation in the body. It contains several anti-inflammatory compounds, which have shown to reduce inflammatory proteins in animal studies.
Loaded with Vitamin C, the Custard Apples can boost immunity by fighting foreign pathogens that enter the body.
Custard Apples contains compounds like catechin, epicatechin, and epigallocatechin. Some of these are known to prevent the growth of cancer cells.
*Disclaimer: Please seek professional medical advice for a diet that fits your needs.