Custard Apples

When I was young, I used to love custard apples. This lumpy green fruit, when truly ripe could so easily be pressed open with my little pudgy hands and lo and behold, creamy off-white flesh to be scooped up either with a spoon, or more often than not eaten straight out of my hands. The soft pulp, almost custard-like in texture (well, to me, more like a whipped egg custard) is sweet and flavorful (tasting like a cross between sweet pulpy banana and papaya) . The best part during those immature years, was spitting out the large inedible black seeds within the pulp.

Having had a surfeit of imported fruits (apples, oranges, pears, grapes, etc.), I pounced on these custard apples when I last visited the supermarket. It was great rediscovering their taste, and guess what, becoz' I blog, I sat down in front of my laptop and 'googled'!

Some irrelevant facts:

• Also known as 'cherimoya', sherbet fruit, bullock's heart (never fails to amaze me how creative mankind is when naming objects)
  
• No cholesterol, contains protein, fibre, potassium and vitamin C
• Can be served with cheese (found out too late after I had consumed all my apples - will need to try this out when I buy my next batch of apples - wonder which type of cheese will pair well?)
• Found a whole bunch of recipes using this fruit in shakes, desserts and even for savoury meals - am definitely hitting the supermarket again!