If you know, you know! I can't even with how much I love this fruit. On Guam, in Chamorro, we call this atis (awe-tis). It is the fruit of one of over 150 species of plants in the genus annona. Atis look very similar to cherimoyas and atemoyas, and they are all classified under the family Annonaceae, or the custard apple family.
Pictured below are cherimoyas. I never saw these growing up on Guam, but indeed they do. I found them at our local Asian market and grabbed a few because they looked similar to atis. I did a quick search on my phone, and took a risk that they would be similar enough to atis.
These cherimoyas are about 1 pound each, and measure 4 inches long by 3.5 inches wide. They seem heavier than you would think, as in an apple of the same size would feel lighter. The skin has a smooth texture similar to velvet fabric -- there's a pleasant fuzz to it -- kind of like a peach, but less fuzzy. It's hard right now, and supposedly will ripen -- like an atis would.
Under scientific classification, the plant of the atis fruit we know and love on Guam, which we commonly refer to as sweetsop:
ATIS - SWEETSOP
- Order - Magnoliales
- Family - Annonaceae
- Genus - Annona
- Species - A. squamosa
- Annona squamosa
- Growing up on Guam, I've only seen the green ones, but in recent times, I believe there are some folks growing the red ones too. If you find these and they are hard, get them! They will ripen on the counter -- the skin will turn black, the sections will start to separate, and the fruit will be soft to the touch.
On Guam, we are also familiar with laguana, which we commonly call soursop:
LAGUANA - SOURSOP
- Order - Magnoliales
- Family - Annonaceae
- Genus - Annona
- Species - A. muricata
- Annona muricata
If you do a search of custard apple, you'll find articles and videos that use custard apple, sweetsop, and sugar apple interchangeably. I'd like to further clarify the other fruits that are similar to what Chamorros know as atis:
CHERIMOYA
- Order - Magnoliales
- Family - Annonaceae
- Genus - Annona
- Species - A. cherimola
- Annona cherimola
My dad says he finds cherimoya when he goes hunting or picking goat food. Chamorros on the island call them specifically, annonas.
BULLOCK'S HEART - WILD SWEETSOP
- Order - Magnoliales
- Family - Annonaceae
- Genus - Annona
- Species - A. reticulata
- Annona reticulata
ATEMOYA
- Order - Magnoliales
- Family - Annonaceae
- Genus - Annona
- Species - A. x atemoya
- Annona x atemoya
- this is a hybrid of cherimoya and atis
I've never had anything but atis and laguana. BUT FOR SURE, I will let you know how it goes when I break open those cherimoyas! A sweet friend shipped me some from Florida in July, but with the delay due to covid, most of the fruits were spoiled -- I did savor a tiny one that made it. I hope I'm not disappointed with the cherimoya because for my birthday in August, I had ordered atis from Florida via Etsy. Unfortunately, the box never arrived -- though we did get a refund.
UPDATE:
It took 5 days for the first cherimoya to ripen. At room temperature, you can pull the cherimoya into two halves with your hands. If it's cold out of the fridge though, you need to cut it in half:
CHERIMOYA
- smells and tastes like bubble gum
- texture of fruit inside is smooth
- reminiscent of a pear
- less seeds
- ripe when you can press/squeeze it and it makes indentation, and skin starts to brown
ATIS
- smells and tastes more vanilla-ish/custardy
- texture of fruit inside is more soft, pulpy, gritty in a good sense
- more seeds than a cherimoya
- when ripe, skin ridges start to separate and blacken on the outside, and is quite soft to the touch
If I had to choose between an atis and cherimoya right in front of me, I'll pick atis all day. If I probably would never have atis again, I'd get at least 1 or 2 cherimoya. Having had this fruit, I could wait another year to two before buying them again.
I did happen to find cherimoya at my local Harris Teeter grocery store. Cherimoya can be $6 to $10 per pound where one large fruit weighs one pound.
Of the 3 large cherimoya I had, one softened but wasn't as sweet as the first; the third one didn't ripen at all, and actually felt lighter by the 10th day -- it spoiled.
Hope this helps!
In the mean time, check-out my Guam food recipes videos on YouTube:
Always,
pquinene
www.paulaq.com
