Sour Sop

Scientific Name: Annona Muricata

Local Name: Soursop

Creole: Name Couassol
Other: Graviola, Brazilian Pawpaw, Guanba

The soursop or graviola tree is grown wild in the Caribbean and has always been used in time long ago by Caribbean people and further back the inhabitants of the islands the Kalinago indigenous people (The Caribs) as a popular home remedy.

The soursop tree until recently has become a subject matter of cancer studies with very interesting results. Extract from the plant leaves, bark, and root are now widely available in the form of tea bags, capsules, and liquids all over the internet.

Sour Sop Tree

The soursop tree as it is known is a specie of the Annona  family a tropical plant that is grown throughout the Caribbean, Central,and South America, Mexico, and deep in the Amazon rain forest. It is also cultivated in Florida in the United States.

Out of the 60 or so specie of the Annona Family , The soursop produces the largest fruit. It is family to the Custard Apple known as the (Cachima) in Dominica,and the Sugar Apple (Pomme Canelle). The tree plant and fruit are known by its Brazilian or Portuguese name " Greviola" or Brazilian Pawpaw and (guanabana) in Spanish.

The bark and leaves, were often used as tea and baths, more so for children to induce sleep. Other uses of the leaves are cooling, common colds, fever, coughing, and flue like symptoms, depression, high blood pressure, heat rashes, joint pains,and used as a sedative. The leaves were used for tea, to reduce swelling of the mucus membranes.and to treat liver disease. In Africa the leaves are crushed rub against the face in cases of dizziness, giddiness, shock and for the deadening of skin.

The black seeds were often crushed and ingested for intestinal worms, and also to apply to the scalp to help get rid of head lice. 

Sour Sop Cut Open

The ripe white pulpy fruit, makes delicious beverage and dessert or it can be eaten in hand. The fruit and juice are taken for worms and parasites as well to increase a mother milk after child birth and as a astringent for diarrhea and dysentery, while the young fruit are cooked as vegetables. The heart of the ripe fruit were often eaten by children for week bladder or wetting bed at knights.

The Graviola Tree a Break Through for Cancer Treatment: A few years age the Health Science Institute published a special report on an astounding discovery of a particular tree that grows deep in the Amazon rain forest that can revolutionize what you, your Doctor and the rest of the world think about cancer treatment and the chances of survival.

In 1976 the National cancer institute performed the first scientific research and the result showed that graviola leaves, and stem were found effective in attacking and destroying malignant cells.

According to the report, research shows that the extracts from this miraculous tree it may be possible to .... 

• Attack cancer safely and effectively with an all natural therapy that does not cause extreme nausea, weight loss, and hair loss.

• Protect your immune system, and avoid deadly infections. 
• Feel stronger and healthier throughout the course of treatment. 
• Boost your energy level and improve your out look on life. 

The source of this information was just stunning: It came from one of Americas largest drug manufactures, the fruit of over 20 laboratory test conducted since the 1970s! What those test revealed was nothing short of mind boggling...

Soursop is the fruit of Annona muricata, a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree. The exact origin is unknown; it is native to the tropical regions of the Americas and is widely propagated.^[4] It is in the same genus, Annona, as cherimoya and is in the Annonaceae family.

Sour Sop

The soursop is adapted to areas of high humidity and relatively warm winters; temperatures below 5 °C (41 °F) will cause damage to leaves and small branches, and temperatures below 3 °C (37 °F) can be fatal. The fruit becomes dry and is no longer good for concentrate.

The flavour of the fruit has been described as a combination of strawberry and pineapple, with sour citrus flavour notes contrasting with an underlying creamy flavour reminiscent of coconut or banana.

Soursop is widely promoted (sometimes as "graviola") as an alternative cancer treatment. There is, however, no medical evidence that it is effective.^[5]

Uses

The flesh of the fruit consists of an edible, white pulp, some fiber, and a core of indigestible, black seeds. The species is the only member of its genus suitable for processing and preservation.^{[citation needed]}

The pulp is also used to make fruit nectar, smoothies, fruit juice drinks, as well as candies, sorbets, and ice cream flavorings.

Due to the fruit's widespread cultivation and popularity in parts of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, soursop and its derivative products are consumed across the world, also via branded food and beverage products available in many countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Canada, the United States, the UK, Ireland and Continental Europe, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

In Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Harar (Ethiopia), it is a common fruit, often used for dessert as the only ingredient, or as an agua fresca beverage; in Colombia and Venezuela, it is a fruit for juices, mixed with milk. In Cuba, a thick smoothie made of soursop pulp, milk and cane sugar goes by the name of champola. Ice cream and fruit bars made of soursop are also very popular. The seeds are normally left in the preparation, and removed while consuming, unless a blender is used for processing.

In Indonesia, dodol sirsak, a sweetmeat, is made by boiling soursop pulp in water and adding sugar until the mixture hardens. Soursop is also a common ingredient for making fresh fruit juices that are sold by street food vendors. In the Philippines, it is called guyabano, derived from the Spanish guanabana, and is eaten ripe, or used to make juices, smoothies, or ice cream. Sometimes, they use the leaf in tenderizing meat. In Vietnam, this fruit is called mãng cầu Xiêm (Siamese Soursop) in the south, or mãng cầu (Soursop) in the north, and is used to make smoothies, or eaten as is. In Cambodia, this fruit is called tearb barung, literally "western custard-apple fruit." In Malaysia, it is known in Malay as durian belanda and in East Malaysia, specifically among the Dusun people of Sabah, it is locally known as lampun. Popularly, it is eaten raw when it ripens, or used as one of the ingredients in Ais Kacang or Ais Batu Campur. Usually the fruits are taken from the tree when they mature and left to ripen in a dark corner, whereby they will be eaten when they are fully ripe. It has a white flower with a very pleasing scent, especially in the morning. While for people in Brunei Darussalam this fruit is popularly known as "Durian Salat", widely available and easily planted. It was most likely brought from Mexico to the Philippines by way of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade.^{[citation needed]}

In Australia a variant (Annona reticulata) called "custard apple" is consumed as dessert.

Cultivation[edit]

The plant is grown for its 20–30 cm (7.9–11.8 in) long, prickly, green fruit, which can have a mass of up to 6.8 kg (15 lb),^[11] making it probably the second biggest annona after the junglesop.

Fruit and leaves of Annona muricata

Away from its native area, some limited production occurs as far north as southern Florida within USDA Zone 10; however, these are mostly garden plantings for local consumption. It is also grown in parts of Southeast Asia and abundant on the Island of Mauritius. The soursop will reportedly fruit as a container specimen, even in temperate climates, if protected from cool temperatures.^{[citation needed]}