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When I lived in Brisbane, Australia, one of the fruit crops of Queensland was the Cherimoya or often referred to as a Custard Apple.
Since I happen to personally like hard apples, this fruit did not really appeal to me because it is creamy and soft, but it did have an extremely tropical complex flavor that reminded me of banana, coconut, pineapple or basically a piña colada! It is mellow and sweet and usually cut in half and eaten by the spoonful. One has to be careful of the hard black seeds that are plentiful in the cherimoya as one can easily break a tooth on them
The Cherimoya is grown commercially in Spain, Argentina, Chili and now is having a come-back in California where many were planted in the late 1800’s but were wiped out in the freeze of 1937. Now this tropical tree can easily be planted and grown in any organic gardeners’ orchard where the temperatures do not go below 30° F because they show damage at 29°F and mortality at 25° F.
They like elevated positions so if you have a hilly, warm spot on your property you might want to plant one or two of them. They like to face south, but will tolerate just about any kind of soil as long as the pH range is from 6.5 to 7.6.
You can start your Cherimoyas from seed but it is best to buy a tree from a certified nursery that deals in tropical trees. Once planted make sure your tree has plenty of space because it will eventually get to be about 30 feet tall and 30 feet wide.
These trees loose their leaves in the winter, but will re-leaf in February and flower from spring to mid-summer. The Cherimoya likes regular watering but not in the winter. Unfortunately there are no natural pollinators in the United States for these trees so you will have to learn how to hand pollinate them.
In order to hand pollinate you do it in mid-season of blooming over a period of eight to twelve weeks. You can use a #2 or # 3 artists brush and collect the anthers and pollen from the fully open male flowers and shake the brushes into a small bottle. The anthers are tan colored and the white pollen falling from them speaks for itself. You must work quickly because the pollen is at its peak when it shed and rapidly declines. Immediately apply the freshly collected pollen to the partially opened female flowers with your small brush in the early morning. If your females are not opened when you collect you can seal your small bottle and store in the refrigerator overnight. You can pollinate every 2 or 3 days applying only to flowers that are easily reached inside the tree. For those who are successful with their pollination they may find it necessary to thin the fruit because too much fruit will result in small sized Cherimoya and it will also adversely effect future yields.
For those ambitious gardeners who live in tropical zones it may be noted that Cherimoya is a highly prized fruit in the U.S and most of it never leaves the state of California which at the time of this writing is the only state producing this fruit commercially. Those of you in Southern Florida may want to consider this as an additional cash crop.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… May your day be filled with…Peace, Light and Love,
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Many of her articles written for Greenthumbarticles have paintings she has created of the subject and they can be seen at her “How to Do It” site. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Many of her paintings are sold internationally and many of her works of art have been reproduced on note cards, post cards and other functional items and you can get Giclee prints of her artwork starting as low as $11.89 Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books, art, etc. go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my sites.”
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