Custard Apple (Cherimoya)

A soft, heart-shaped tropical fruit (*Annona cherimola*) with pale green, scale-patterned skin and ivory flesh the texture of set custard. Its flavor blends banana, pineapple, and vanilla into a floral sweetness with almost no acidity, and the large black seeds running through the flesh are inedible. The custard-apple name is applied loosely across close Annona relatives, including *Annona reticulata* and the sugar apple. **Selection & Storage:** Choose fruit that feels heavy for its size with unbroken skin; it is picked firm and ripens off the tree. Hold it at room temperature until it yields to gentle pressure like a ripe avocado - the skin browns as it ripens, which is normal - then refrigerate and eat within two or three days. Do not chill it while still firm, as cold arrests ripening.