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Soursop (Annona muricata L.) is a useful plant origin of the Caribbean, Central America and South America. But known that Graviola has also been long recognized in Africa, especially in Somalia, Mozambique and Uganda. Currently the plant has also been a part of the "traditional" plant in some Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia. Utilization was already happening in a broad scope ranging from fruit to leaves, fruit utilized as a food ingredient and the leaves used as part of herbal medicine.
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This plant can be grown in any place especially in tropical lands, but the best is if planted in an area that is quite watery.
Soursop fruit is not true, because the so-called "fruit" is actually a collection of the fruits (fruit aggregate) with a single seed and losing limits coincide between pieces. Soursop size is large enough, can reach up to 20-30cm long and weigh up to 2.5 kg. Soursop fruit flesh is white and has black seeds. The fruit is often used as raw material for juice drinks and ice cream, but can also be consumed directly. The flesh is soft, juicy and have a mix between sweet, sour and fresh.
Tree characteristics:
Soursop tree trunk has a low branching, tree height between 3 to 8 feet. The bark is brown to blackish brown, the wood including hard wood class. Elongated leaves with lanceolate or obovate, the color of leaves is dark green. The flowers stand alone dealing with leaves. Cone-like flower shape, flower color is light yellow. Flower base concave, stamens quite a lot, so does the embryo fruit. Soursop can plant seeds to use, can also be by way of a patch or grafting. Fruiting season is in January and February each year.
Soursop requires a period of growth to establish tree canopy foliage for about 2 years. The transition from infancy to fruition requires a period of time of approximately 1 year.
Fruit trees established before age 3 years, usually fall out, especially when having water shortages during the dry season.
Not many varieties Soursop recognized, so far there are 4 varieties namely: guanaba Azucaron (sweet), guanaba acida (very sour), guanabana dulce (sweet soursop) and guanabana sin fiber (fiber less).
The Fruit:
Soursop fruit has a true form of multiple (aggregate fruit) is a fruit that comes from a flower with many ovaries but form one fruit, the fruit has thorns fine scales. Flesh white flesh, soft, and fibrous with many seeds blackish brown.
Tend to fixed colored skin of fruit from young to old, from light green to dark green. soft outer skin, has a tapered section that is prevalent but also soft taper.
Soursop fruit seeds somewhat blackish brown and hard, blunt-ended, smooth shiny surface with a size of about 16.8 mm and a width of 9.6 mm, number of seeds in the fruit varied between 20-70 grains.
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Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz):
Energy 276 kJ (66 kcal), Carbohydrates 16.84 g, Sugars 13.54 g, Dietary fiber 3.3 g, Fat 0.3g, Protein 1 g, Thiamine (vit. B1) 0.07 mg (6%), Riboflavin (vit. B2) 0.05 mg (4%), Niacin (vit. B3) 0.9 mg (6%), Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.253 mg (5%), Vitamin B6 0.059 mg (5%), Folate (vit. B9) 14 μg (4%), Choline 7.6 mg (2%), Vitamin C 20.6 mg (25%), Calcium 14 mg (1%), Iron 0.6 mg (5%), Magnesium 21 mg (6%), Phosphorus 27 mg (4%), Potassium 278 mg (6%), Sodium 14 mg (1%), Zinc 0.1 mg (1%).
(Source : USDA Database entry)
Soursop Fruit Benefits for Health
Besides being delicious to eat, it turns out that there are many benefits of soursop fruit for health. The benefits of this sweet and sour fruit cannot be separated from the nutritional content in it.
This fruit is often consumed directly or made into juice, pudding, or a mixture of fruit ice. Not only the flesh, other parts of the soursop plant, such as stems, roots and leaves, are also often used as traditional medicine.
Thanks to its nutritional content, soursop fruit is believed to have many health benefits. Here are some of the benefits of soursop fruit that you need to know:
1. Increase endurance
The content of vitamin C and antioxidants found in soursop fruit act as antioxidants that help counteract free radicals in the body and reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension.
In addition, the nutritional content of soursop fruit is also known to maintain the body's resistance to stay strong against infectious diseases.
2. Relieves inflammation
Soursop fruit extract is known to have anti-inflammatory effects. This effect is believed to be good for alleviating inflammation and preventing diseases that arise due to inflammation, such as gout or gout, hypertension, and arthritis.
However, research so far has not been able to conclude with certainty how effective soursop fruit is as a treatment. Therefore, further research is still needed to confirm the benefits of this one soursop fruit.
3. Smooth digestion
The high content of fiber and water in soursop fruit is good for keeping the digestive tract active. Regular consumption of fruits, including soursop fruit, can also overcome and prevent constipation.
4. Fight infection
A research in the laboratory shows that soursop fruit extract appears to be able to kill bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Plus the nutritional content that can strengthen the immune system, soursop fruit is believed to be good for helping the body recover after an infection.
5. Prevent the growth of cancer cells
Soursop contains antioxidants and various other chemicals that have anticancer properties. Several laboratory studies have shown that soursop fruit and leaf extracts appear to inhibit the growth of various types of cancer cells, such as breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney and mouth cancer.
Various studies have indeed shown the various benefits of soursop fruit for health. However, keep in mind, the benefits of soursop are only known based on the results of studies from several small-scale studies.
Soursop fruit may be consumed as part of a healthy diet because it has a fairly high nutritional content.
Economic potential:
Globally, the fruit is already quite recognized, enjoyed by the public as fresh fruit, juice and a variety of other processed foods. This fruit prices also have a tendency to continue to improve. This fruit although it is still a matter of controversy, trusted by many people as an herbal alternative for the cure of cancer, you could check yourself regarding Soursop against Cancer online.
Regardless of the controversy, this fruit is a fruit that have fresh taste and "open" for being processed material to various food products. In Southeast Asia, countries are often found soursop based processed food products, for example, there is food in Indonesia named “Dodol Soursop,” a kind of porridge sweet snacks that made from soursop, sugar and other ingredients. You can also found various other foods made of Soursop spreading in each Southeast Asia Region.
Please don’t forget that this fruit also contain 25% of Vitamin C in each 100 g of flesh that needed by our body daily, this fruit is one of the riches Vit. C.
The plant of this fruit only good to be cultivated in tropical area, simple handling, and short period needed from first tree planting to fruiting period, although only cultivated on tropical land but this fruit needed globally. There is no such as plantation in industry scale for this fruit plant.
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Division: Spermatophyta
- Sub division: Angiospermae
- Class: Magnoliopsida
- Sub class: Magnoliidae
- Order: Magnoliales
- Family: Annonaceae
- Genus: Annona
- Species: Annona muricata L.
