Since the label "super food" became the marketing "go to" descriptor about every grocery store product from Moringa powder to chocolate covered açaí berries, some people are wary when introduced to a "new" super food.
M has been a big fan of guanábana (aka soursop, graviola) for many years. On my first trip to Costa Rica ( February, 2015), we bought one at a roadside fruit stand. M extolled the virtues of the creamy taste with citrus overtones; how it is best eaten when it is chilled in the refrigerator. We were at the end of our trip and heading to San José to fly out the next day. We popped the fruit in the communal kitchen at our B&B then went out for dinner. Looking at the exterior with its knobby points, I didn't know what to expect. M's excitement was infectious and when it comes to food, I'm generally up for anything. Though I admit that when we were in Bali, M wanted to eat durian. Its reputation as foul smelling yet sweet tasting was too much for me to overcome.
Cutting open a ripe guanábana reveals a soft, creamy pulp with large black seeds. When the fruit is perfectly ripe, the green skin peels in long strips. The challenge in preparing guanábana to eat is removing all the seeds. The seeds are suspended in pouches near the stem. Half the time, cutting the fruit will open the pouches. Lots of time, I manually squeeze the seeds out of the pouches. It takes time 'cause there are many, many seeds. Our friends up the road gave us this luscious fruit. This is the season and their trees are laden. We have a couple of trees that are barely 2 years old. And there is one fruit so far.
Guanábana is considered a super food not wholly by the virtue of its vitamins and minerals, it is the leaves that are attracting attention. Tea made from guanábana leaves is touted as a killer of types of cancer cells (in laboratory tests.) The medical research states that there is not enough evidence to prove or disprove. At any rate, I've boiled fresh leaves and I find the tea quite tasty.
Why we really like this fruit is that it makes an outstanding ice cream. And I'm having lots of fun experimenting with our new Cuisinart Ice cream maker. The ice cream flavors available in the stores on the Panamá border are uninteresting. The logistics of transporting ice cream from the store to our home (40 km away in high heat) even with an ice chest, the ice cream arrives home as soup. In the past few weeks,
I've experimented with various fruits: bananas, papaya, pineapple, plantains, even, chick peas. The base is cream of coconut (instead of dairy.) This product is sweetened and relatively inexpensive compared to heavy cream. It also lends a slight coconut flavor. I generally don't add any other flavorings along with the fruit. I was experiencing some frustration in the quality of the ice cream. Most of my concoctions were icy freezes rather than creamy delights. After consulting the "Gelato Man," of Roberto's Gelato (aka my Mom's life partner), he suggested adding egg yolks. Well, we have an abundance of delicious, fresh egg yolks. What a transformation in the consistency!
The ice cream comes out of the maker practically ready to eat. Though I resist diving into the freshly made bowl of ice cream and restrict myself to licking off the mixing utensils.
I made 2 batches from the guanábana that the Jacksons gave us. I added 1 banana to each batch to give it a little body. We look forward to more gifts of this fruit as several of our neighbors' trees are bursting with fruit. There is a trick to harvesting guanábana. It has to hang on the limb until the skin is soft to the touch. If picked too early, it won't ripen. And if it hits the ground, it will smush open. Some people place little safety nets below their fruit just in case, it decides fall in the middle of the night.
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