Tag Archives: guanabana.

Guanabana fruit

What is guanabana fruit used for?

Posted on by
guanabana fruitGuanabana fruit is also known as soursop and is harvested from the graviola tree. The tall tropical tree is a small, upright evergreen tree that grows 15 to 18 ft (5 to 6 meters) in height.
The guanabana tree produces a large heart-shaped edible guanabana fruit that is 6 to 9 inches long. The inedible skin is yellowish green in color. Inside is white flesh dotted with 3/4 inch black or brown seeds.
You can find the fruit in most of the warmest tropical areas in South and North America including the Amazon, the Caribbean and Mexico. It also grows in south Florida.
It can also be found in local markets in the tropics.  Sometimes guanabana fruit is referred to as soursop, custard apple, custard pear, paw paw, or sometimes Brazilian cherimoya.

What is the guanabana fruit used for in the kitchen?

Guanabana fruit is excellent for making drinks, ice creams and and frozen desserts. Though it can be slightly sour and acidic, as it ripens , it can be eaten raw.

What is guanabana fruit used for in natural medicine?

GuanabanaThe guanabana fruit and fruit juice can be eaten to treat worms and parasites, to cool fevers, to increase mother’s milk after childbirth. It is also used to treat diarrhea and dysentery.
The crushed guanabana seeds in the fruit pulp are used to treat internal and external parasites and worms.

History of guanabana fruit in regional natural medicine

Guanabana fruit has a long rich history of use in herbal medicine, and among indigenous peoples in the tropics.

Peru

You find  that a tea from the guanabana leaf is used for mucus reduction in the Peruvian Andes. The crushed seeds of the fruit are used to kill parasites. In the Peruvian Amazon the bark roots and leaves are used for diabetes and as a sedative and antispasmodic.

Guyana

Indigenous tribes in Guyana use a guanabana leaf tea of as a sedative and heart tonic.

Brazil

In the Brazilian Amazon, the unripened fruit is combined with olive oil. It is used externally for neuralgia, rheumatism and to treat arthritis pain.

Jamaica and Caribbean islands

In the Caribbean, especially in Jamaica, Guanabana fruit and its juice has long been used to treat:
  • fevers
  • parasites
  • to bring in mother’s milk.
  • to ease diarrhea.
  • And, to treat cancer

Plus, it is also used for heart conditions, coughs, difficult childbirth, asthma, asthenia, hypertension and to clear parasites.

Grow a soursop tree

Grow a soursop tree at home

Posted on by

How to grow a soursop tree at home

Want to grow a soursop tree that bears the prickly soursop fruit at home? It is not that hard. However, there are some unique issues that need to be overcome before you can successfully harvest fresh soursop for your DIY growing efforts.

What you will need to grow a soursop tree at home

Here is the equipment and enviroment you will need to grow soursop:

  • Graviola seeds
  • Warm environment that can be kept above 30 F or -1 C.
  • Warm, shady spot for germination.
  • Peat pots filled with potting soil
  • A large pot
  • Garden tools
  • Peat, mulch and potting soil

Notes about growing soursop trees:

A soursop tree can grow from 25 to 30 feet tall.

The tree produces an oval-shaped spiny fruit with a tender yellow/green skin.

Typically, it is grown in countries like Mexico, Jamaica, the West Indies, northern South America, China, Australia Southeast Asia and Africa. In the U.S., it can grow in central to southern Florida, southern California, southern Arizona and southern Texas.

The tree that produces soursop fruit needs a tropical climate. It will not survive a frost. It will suffer damage at 30 F (around -1 C) and it will die at 26 F (-3 C).

U.S. Plant Hardiness Zones

U.S. Plant Hardiness Zones

The U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11. in rich. In Florida that is the zones south or Orlando and Tampa. In California it is the coast regions from San Luis Obispo south and Bakersfield. Southern Texas and southern Arizona also match this criteria. See more here

Plant a Graviola tree in rich well-drained soil with 5 to 6.5 pH.

How to plant soursop seeds to grow a tree

Soursop seeds

Soursop seeds are about 3/4 inch and are brown

Indoor graviola tree planting

  1. Wash soursop seeds and prepare a warm, shady indoor spot for germination.
  2. Plant the seeds in peat pots filled with potting soil, less than 30 days after harvesting from fruit.
  3. Keep the soil moist to the touch. Soursop seeds will germinate in 15 to 30 days if the are viable.

Outdoor graviola sapling planting

If you live in a suitable climate as noted above (no frost, warm tropical or sub-tropical temperatures) you can transplant seedlings outdoors, or accommodate the growth of a tall indoor potted tree in a greenhouse.

  1. Prepare a sunny, south-facing spot with wind protection in the garden and rake 2 inches of compost into the soil.
  2. Transplant 12-inch-high seedlings into the yard in the spring, spacing them at least 12 feet apart. Dig holes big enough to hold the root ball of each plant. Cover the base of the plant with soil
  3. Add 3 inches of mulch to keep moist.
  4. Water soursop plants often enough to keep the soil moist, but not wet, during hot weather.
  5. When the weather cools in the winter, be sure to reduce watering. Soursop plants can tolerate drought. That said they can develop pest problems if they are always wet.
  6. Provide soursop plants with 10-10-10 fertilizer, using a total of one-half pound of fertilizer per tree in the first year. Split the amount quarterly. In the 2nd year, raise the amount to 1 pound. Thereafter use 3 pounds of fertilizer per year.
  7. Reapply mulch annually to the trees.
  8. Widening the mulch application area to 5 feet as the tree’s root system expands.

Supplies list for growing a soursop tree

Soursop seed

You can plant seeds for up to 30 days after you remove them from the soursop fruit

Here are a list of supplies you will need to grow a soursop tree. The links take you to source where you can by the supplies:

How to harvest soursop fruit:

When soursop fruit is still firm and yellow-green in color, you can harvest it. Don’t allow the fruit to get soft on the tree. Ripen indoors. Store picked firm fruit in the refrigerator for several days until it becomes soft to the touch.