Soursop for Delivery or Pickup

Soursop is a fruit that comes from a flowering tree in the same family as cherimoya and custard apples, all of which bear edible fruit that has been a popular ingredient for hundreds of years. The soursop fruit smells like pineapple, but the flavor is usually described as being similar to apples and strawberries. The outer skin of the soursop is prickly and the inner flesh is creamy and has a slightly citrus taste that has earned it the name of soursop.

There are a number of other names for the soursop, including Graviola, Brazilian pawpaw, and guanabana. The trees on which they grow are native to the American tropics but have also proliferated throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. The trees can grow in poor quality soil, so they are grown in many areas with favorable climates to the extent that the species is considered invasive in some countries. 

Soursops do not change color significantly as they ripen, so it can be hard to spot a perfectly ripe fruit just by looking. However, the skin does darken as the fruit becomes overripe, so unless you want to eat them right away, avoid any with brown spots or black areas on the skin.

The best way to tell whether a soursop is ripe is to give is a gentle squeeze. If the flesh is hard, then it is unripe and will need to be left for a few days before eating. If the flesh yields slightly when you touch it, it is ripe and ready to eat within a couple of days. If the flesh is soft and gives way when pressed, then the fruit is ready to eat.

Soursops can grow up to 30 centimeters in length and the fruit can weigh up to 15 pounds. Because they are so large, different parts of a soursop can actually ripen at different rates, so it's best to pick up a fruit to squeeze more than one area of the flesh. An unripe soursop can be ripened slowly by keeping it at low temperatures in a refrigerator or cool pantry, but if you want to ripen one quickly then keep it at room temperature. You can freeze soursop, but it's best to wait until it is ripe to do so to preserve the full sweetness of the fruit for future use.

Soursops are roughly pear-shaped and have prickly green skin, but it isn't too thick and can be cut with a regular kitchen knife. The inner flesh is often described as 'custardy' and has been compared to jackfruit and bananas, but there are hard seeds inside that are not edible. When soursop is ripe, the seeds can be squeezed out easily and discarded. 

There is a harder core in the center of a soursop, but, similar to that of a pineapple, it is edible and just slightly firmer than the outer flesh with a texture more similar to jackfruit. If you cut a soursop in half, you can simply scoop the flesh out of the skin, or some people prefer to slice the soursop into segments and eat it straight off the rind.

Whether you are a long-time soursop fan or want to try a new fruit to get a bit more variety into your diet, you can order easily using the Instacart app. Our shoppers will pick and pack your groceries for delivery in as little as 2 hours!