What Are the Health Benefits of Sugar Apples?

The sugar apple is a popular fruit of the tropics. Many often confuse it with other fruits like custard apple and cherimoya. It makes sense since all of them belong to the same family of fruits and look quite similar. But the sugar apple is the most widely grown variety in this group. While generally eaten fresh, it can also be used to add flavor to desserts and shakes. In Asian and South American countries, it’s highly valued for its health benefits and finds many medicinal uses.

What Is Sugar Apple?

The sugar apple is a heart-shaped fruit. It grows on thick, woody stalks and is the most commonly eaten part of the sugar apple tree. Its outer surface is thick, hard, and covered with scaly greenish skin. You can easily identify the fruit from the knobby segments on its exterior, which separate and reveal the inner section once ripened. 

The inner flesh is juicy, fragrant, and appears either light yellowish-green or purple in color. In an average fruit, you can find 20 to 38 or sometimes even more seeds at a time.

Sugar apple belongs to the family Annonaceae. Its tree is native to the West Indies and South America. Today, the fruit is widely grown in most tropical and subtropical regions of the world, like Bermuda, Mexico, Southern Florida, and the Bahamas. It’s also very popular in many Asian countries, like India, China, and the Philippines.

The scientific name of the sugar apple is Annona squamosa. In Brazil, it’s called “fruta do conde do mato,” which means “fruit of the woodland count”. Chances are you’ve also heard of its other regional names, like sweetsop, scaly custard apple, anon, and bullock’s heart. 

How Does Sugar Apple Taste?

The name sugar apple says it all. As you can guess, its flesh has a pleasant sweet flavor and a highly juicy texture. Some people find the taste of sugar apples very refreshing, similar to that of other tropical fruits like pineapple and banana. But for most, its taste is distinctly creamy, like that of custard.