• Scientific name: Annona Squamosa
• Family: Annona family
• Origin: West Indies
• Other name: sweetsop, custard apple, atis, anon, pomme canella
• Varieties: About ten, varying in size, shape, though similar in flavor
• Tree: height: 3-6m
• Fruit: diameter: 6-10cm; weight 100-150gm
• Season: almost all year round
• Uses: fruit usually eaten as fresh, used to make beverages and medicinal

Sugar Apple is juicy and creamy fruit, it has a white pulp that contain up to 40 black seeds. The exterior is rough, knobbly, grayish-green. The best way of eating this delicious fruit is to split open the fruit, scoop a spoonful of pulp into the mouth, enjoy the fleshy segments while separating the hard seeds in the mouth and spitting them out.

Sugar apple contains no sodium they are high in carbohydrates and rich in calcium, vitamin C and phosphorus, and with a sugar content of about 50-50 (glucose and sucrose). This fruit is also considered as a good tonic in Ayurveda. It enriches blood and is known to increase muscular strength.

Medicinal Uses:

• The leaves served as a purgative.
• Bark decoction is used to stop diarrhea.
• Decoction of the leaves and/or root is taken in cases of dysentery.
• Decoction of the leaves is good to cure diabetes.
• The leaves are applied to abscesses and open wounds and used to cure skin itches.
• The crushed leaves are sniffed to overcome fainting spells and hysteria,
• The mashed, ripe fruit, mixed with salt, is applied on tumors.
• Decoction of the leaves is used to aid digestive problem, and to treat colds.
• Decoction of the leaves is employed in baths to alleviate rheumatic pain
• Decoction of the leaves is used to clarify urine.
• The seeds immerse in coconut oil is a traditional treatment for head and body lice. The seed is also made into powder and can be applied on head to kill lice in hair.

Nutrient Content per 100 g:

• Ascorbic Acid: 34.7-42.2 mg
• Carotene: 5-7 I.U.
• Phosphorus: 23.6-55.3 mg
• Calcium: 19.4-44.7 mg
• Iron: 0.28-1.34 mg
• Thiamine: 0.100-0.13 mg
• Riboflavin: 0.113-0.167 mg
• Niacin: 0.654-0.931 mg
• Calories: 88.9-95.7 g
• Fat: 0.26-1.10 g
• Carbohydrates: 19.16-25.19 g
• Protein: 1.53-2.38 g

Caution:

• The roots of the sugar apple tree are powerful enough to induce abortions.