Cherimoya?

The latest Fine Cooking (Issue #105) has a delicious-sounding recipe for cherimoya-lime sorbet. Any suggestions for where I can find a cherimoya around Chicago? Or a few cherimoyae (that is the plural, right?)?

Jen

Marketplace on Oakton has carried them on occasion, and I'd bet the big Asian markets do, too. March and April are supposed to be the peak, with some remaining during May...I haven't noticed them this year, though. Sometimes they are referred to as "custard apples."

HI,

One of the few comments on this fruit, Diannie said it is related to our indigenous paw paw.

Regards,

In the past I've seen them at Fox & Obel.

I saw them at the big Whole Foods on Kingsbury yesterday. They were also at Tai Nam Grocery on Broadway when I stopped in earlier this week.

Mayfair Market had a good supply at $5.99/pound this afternoon.

Mayfair Market
4728 N Pulaski Rd
Chicago, IL 60630
773-685-3900

I don't know if this will help, but La Unica has Cherimoya pulp in the frozen fruit section.

Thanks everyone! A cherimoya quest is definitely on my list for this weekend-- Mayfair Market is even near me! Also, that is a great tip about frozen pulp-- they might even have that at my local Tony's-- thanks Mhays!

Cheers, Jen

Thank you all for the guidance, I found the frozen purees at the A&G (on sale!):

In this photo, they are thawed and ready to be mixed with simple syrup.

They did not have cherimoya, but did have something that looked familiar, guanabana-- also known as soursop--turns out they are in the same genus, but different species. I also went for passionfruit, something I had wanted to try. The sorbets turned out great:


The passionfruit is bracingly acidic-- I think it would be good mixed with a low-acid fruit (mulberry??). My daughter loved the
soursop, which had a great tropical flavor. The sorbet is very easy-- I adjusted the amounts because the recipe originally called for 3c fruit pulp, but each package only had 2c. For 2c pulp, mix 1/2c water and 1/2c sugar, heat to dissolve and, once dissolved, cool. Mix the fruit pulp, sugar water, and 2Tbsp lime juice, then chill. Freeze in ice cream maker. (Or maybe in popsicle molds...).

Thanks again LTH!
Jen

Nice, Jen - and good idea on the popsicles; I'd been planning on making my own this year with pureed fruit and it stupidly never occurred to me to use these purees!

Sorbet looks fabulous, Jen! If it ever turns warm and stays there, I'll make some. Frozen purees available at La Unica as well as other places, I bought some two years ago when I was just back from Ecuador and desperate for tropical fruit.

Regarding the passionfruit being acidic: When I was in Ecuador, maracuya (passionfruit) juice was my favorite. The host mother in the family that my son was staying with helped me make some at her house. I scraped seeds and juice from the insides of two fruits (the size of regular eggplants, as I recall, and the seeds looking so weird and slimy that I doubled over in laughter, because it looked like something I would have been reluctant to eat if I didn't already know I loved it.) Anyhow-- she dumped nearly a cup of sugar into the blender, and filled it up with water, and turned it on. I was shocked at the amount of sugar (visions of childhood Koolaid). However, I strained it into a pitcher, and yum. The stuff just needs lots of sweetening.

Oooh! Soursop. I adore soursop. Must get this soursop type fruit puree soon.