What Does Cherimoya Taste Like?

What is a Cherimoya?

I had the opportunity last week to go to my local farmers market and buy some amazing organic produce. Among the different fruit and vegetable stands, I came across a vendor selling cherimoyas. I had never tried cherimoyas before but heard that they taste like a mixture between pineapple and coconut. Who wouldn’t want to eat a fruit that tasted like heaven?

I bought 4 of them just in case a few went bad. When I first bought them, the fruit was bright green, hard and unripe. It felt like an unripe avocado. I was told to wait 3 or 4 days for them to ripen. After 1 day of ripening, the outside of the fruit smelled fermented. I was quickly saddened as I thought the vendor gave me a bad fruit and that I would have to prolong my wait to try some cherimoyas. Reluctantly, I decided to wait the 3 or 4 days like suggested and sure enough, after 4 days, the cherimoyas smelled sweet, were ripe and ready to be eaten.

How could I tell they were ready to eat?

Well, the outside felt slightly spongey, like a piece of fresh cornbread or a soft pear. The skin was squishy. In all honestly, it felt exactly like the Noni fruit that I had tried last year in Hawaii. If you’ve ever had or smelled “fresh” noni, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t had the experience, you’re not missing out. Noni fruit tastes like old, rotten, stinky cheese and the taste doesn’t leave your mouth for an hour. I hear the juice tastes nothing like the raw fruit. Anyway, back to the cherimoyas.

Cherimoya Flavor

Upon cutting open the fruit, I noticed the plethora of seeds. But that didn’t stop me from digging in. My first bite will be a memorable one. To me, it tasted like sweet strawberry candy, you know that fake strawberry flavor? Some people describe the flavor as red licorice or pineapple. I bet the different varieties have different flavors. You can scoop out the white flesh, suck off the fruit, and spit out the seeds. I chose not to eat the skin although it was gooey enough and appeared edible. I will do more research as to see if the skin is edible. The seeds, however, are not edible. I hear they are poisonous but don’t worry, they’re really big and you’d have a hard time swallowing one without knowing it.

Would I buy a cherimoya again? Of course. It was a great experience. The next fruits on my list to try will be:

1) Jackfruit
2) Rambutan – Tried it!
3) Durian – Watch my video experience
4) Lychee
5) Rollinia
6) Soursop

If anyone has connections to getting any of the fruits above, please leave a comment below! Thanks!