Cherimoya
Webpages concerning "Cherimoya"
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Wikipedia-Article "Cherimoya"
| Cherimoya | ||||||||||||||
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 Cherimoya fruit |
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| Annona cherimola Mill. |
The Cherimoya Annona cherimola is a species of Annona native to the Andean-highland valleys of Perú, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia. Although it is widely popular in Chile, Cherimoya is not native to that area. It has, however, been cultivated in Chile, making the nation one of the main exporters of Cherimoya in the region. It is a deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub or small tree reaching 7 m tall. The leaves are alternate, simple, oblong-lanceolate, 7-15 cm long and 6-10 cm broad. The flowers are produced in small clusters, each flower 2-3 cm across, with six petals, yellow-brown, often spotted purple at the base.
The fruit is oval, often slighly oblique, 10-20 cm long and 7-10 cm diameter, with a smooth or slightly tuberculated skin. The fruit flesh is white, and has numerous seeds embedded in it.
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Cultivation and uses
The tree thrives throughout the tropics at altitudes of 1300-1700m (4,000-5,000 feet). The name derives from Quechua 'chirimuya,' meaning 'cold seeds,' since the seeds will germinate at higher altitudes. Though sensitive to frost, it must have periods of cool temperatures or the tree will gradually go dormant. The indigenous inhabitants of the Andes say that although the cherimoya cannot stand snow, it does like to see it in the distance. It is cultivated in many places throughout the Americas, including as far north as California.
The fruit is fleshy and soft, sweet, white in color, with a custard-like texture. Some characterize the flavor as a blend of pineapple, mango and strawberry. Similar in size to a grapefruit, it has large, glossy seeds that are easily removed. The seeds are poisonous if crushed open; one should also avoid eating the skin. When ripe the skin is green and gives slightly to pressure, similar to the avocado. Ripe fruit may be kept in the refrigerator, but it is best to let immature cherimoyas ripen at room temperature. If the skin is brown, it is overripe.
Pollination
Pollination for the cherimoya is unusual in that the flowers are hermaphroditic but cannot pollinate themselves. The short-lived flowers open as female, then progress to a later, male stage in a matter of hours. This requires a separate pollinator that not only can collect the pollen from flowers in the male stage, but also deposit it in flowers in the female stage. It is acknowledged that there must be such a natural pollinator, but so far studies of insects in the cherimoya's native region have been inconclusive.
Quite often, the female flower is receptive in the early part of the first day, but pollen is not produced in the male stage until the late afternoon of the second day. Honeybees are not good pollinators, for example, because they will only visit flowers in the male stage to collect the pollen, and then not return.
For fruit production outside the cherimoya's native region, cultivators must either rely upon the wind to spread pollen in dense orchards or else pollinate flowers by hand. Complicating matters is the notoriously short lifespan of cherimoya pollen.
Mark Twain called the cherimoya "the most delicious fruit known to men".
See also
- Atemoya (a cross of A. squamosa and A. cherimola)
- Custard-apple (Annona reticulata)
- Pawpaw (Asimina spp)
- Sugar-apple (Annona squamosa)