Nutritional Benefits of Cherimoya Fruit

Dr. Purushothaman
September 2, 2018

Consuming the right fruit is very essential for maintaining a healthy body. Tropical fruits are the most tasty and rich fruits that can provide you with a lot of vitamins and nutrients. Sugary, pliable, and fragrant, rich cherimoya are considered as one of the greatest tasting tropical fruits from Andean valley origin and it comes with several Health benefits. The fruits are characterized by greenish-yellow color and they are basically conical fruits, taken from the evergreen trees that belong to the family named Annonaceae, within the genus of Annona. It is known that the scientific name of the fruit is Annona cherimola.

The fruit is found to be either irregularly oval or conical in shape, and it possesses tough, dark-green skin along with polygonal notch. The fruit usually has a length of 10-15 cm diameter of 10 cm, and weighs approximately 350 gm to 500 gm.

Health benefits of cherimoya

  • The health benefits of the fruit are many because this sweet and pleasing flavor annonas possesses essential nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

  • Cherimoya is recognized to include many polyphenolic antioxidants. Of them, the greatest famous within Annona family fruits are Annonaceous acetogenins. Moreover, Acetogenin compounds like bullatacinare, asimicin, etc., are potent cytotoxins and possess anti-malarial, anti-cancer, and anti-helminth properties.

  • This fruit owns calories equivalent to a fruit mango. It is known that 100 g of fresh fruit pulp offers around 75 calories. But, it does not include any saturated fats or cholesterol.

  • It is an excellent source of vitamin-C which is a dominant natural antioxidant. Eating fruits that are high in vitamin-C aids the human body grow resistance against transmittable agents as well as search dangerous and pro-inflammatory free radicals present in the body.

  • It contains sodium and potassium in a balanced ratio. It is a fact that a good potassium level inside the body aids, to regulate blood pressure and heart rate, and so, it can balance bad effects of sodium.

Selection and Storage

In its natural environment, it is usually observed that cherimoya season continues from November till May. When kept at home, it is best to store mature fruits in a fruit basket and that too at room temperature till them ripe. Generally Cherimoya possesses extremely short shelf life. After they are ripening, it speedily weakens at room temperature. Similar to bananas, the whole cherimoya could not be stored into the refrigerator for an extensive period of time because they uphold chilling injury.

Preparation and Serving tips

Cherimoya possesses a unique taste which is delicious and comes in fragrant flavor. In order to prepare, you need to wash this fruit in cold running water. After that, you need to carefully mop dry by use of a paper towel. You can cut the fruit lengthwise and then eat it scooping by use of a spoon. However, you need to remove the peel and seeds.

Below discussed are a few of the serving tips:

  • This fruit is better to be consumed out of hand on its own, excluding any type of add-on or seasonings.

  • The fruit can be pulp pureed and combined with some other fruits in salads or else it could be utilized in the form of ice-cream toppings.

  • Cherimoya juice is found to be a very refreshing drink.

Side Effects of Cherimoya

The Cherimoya fruit does not have any kind of side effects. But eating the seeds of the cherimoya fruit can be risky. Since the seeds contain a toxic substance, care should be taken not to eat the seed. The fruit is fully packed with vitamins and hence it is recommended to consume it on a regular basis. Consuming this fruit will assure you to stay healthy.

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