Fruit of the day #1 Pinha or Sweetsop
When we arrived in Rio, we were amazed by the amount of fruits that were completely new to us! With the Amazonian rainforest nearby, the possibilities for growing incredibly juicy, colourful, sweet, tasty fruits are infinite!!!
For our last week in South America, we have decided to go shopping freshly every day from the market in order to share with you these little sweet wonders.
The chosen one for the first session of #fruitoftheday is going to impress you. Called Pinha in Portuguese.
This little green spiky ball, looking like a strange pine cone (hence the name) is just delicious! If you search for it in an English-speaking country, it might be called sweetsop, sugar-apple or custard apple. In France, we named it Attier or Pomme-Cannelle (Apple- cinnamon).
Before talking about the taste, let’s have a look at the botanical information!
The sugar-apple grows on the Annona squamosa tree that is part of the Annonaceae family.
Many of its cousins are available here, such as chirimoya (from the Annona cherimola tree), Soursop (from the Annona muricate tree). This family originates from South America, but it can also be found in Asia and some parts of Africa.
When we tasted it, the first word that came to our minds was sugar! Almost like a candy floss! The second word was seeds, be careful when trying it, they are everywhere & they are hard like stones! The texture is surprising as well, very sticky and quite creamy but still firm (WTF), a bit like a jack-fruit!
Taste wise, it’s pretty difficult to describe as it is an exotic fruit and our palates are not used to this kind of aromas. Quite far from the taste of our apples and pears! Once again, it is VERY sweet, similar to confectionery. You might also find some notes of cloves.
Actually, you know what? The best way to find out what its flavour is, is to try it yourself! From what we remember from the good auld days living in Dublin, we could find it (or similar fruits from the same family) in Asian shops.
