Episode: #7 14/10/2006
Presenter: Melissa King

You know you are onto a good thing when you find a fruit with flesh as sweet and sugary as any dessert, but half the calories, and that fruit is the delicious custard apple (Annona cherimola).

It is a perfect example of not judging a book by its cover because it is one ugly looking piece of fruit from the outside. Don?t be put off, the flesh is fantastic.

The custard apple (Annona cherimola) is thought to be a native of the West Indies. There are only a few named cultivars. ?African Pride? is one of the best. It is a compact variety that is more cold tolerant and will produce a crop in the 2^nd or 3^rd year after planting. ?Pink Mammoth produces good quality crops, but can take up to seven years to bear fruit.

The trees produce over 100 fruit in a season and at $5 each in the shops that is not a bad investment.

Custard Apples like high temperatures and humidity, so you will find the tree growing in tropical areas of the world, but you can still grow them in other climates around Australia provided you protect young trees from hot drying winds and frost. They also like a rich soil with good moisture and drainage.

The tree is semi-deciduous so it tends to drop most of its leaves by spring and has the advantage of cropping in late winter and spring, when there is not much exotic fruit around.

Secret to good fruiting is to attract the bees and ants because good pollination means good crops. Some growers also put a mist sprinkler in the canopy to increase humidity when they are in flower and encourage good crops.

The best way to eat them is to divide in half by hand, eat the creamy flesh with a spoon and spit out the seeds. Oh and don?t forget the vanilla ice-cream!