RAMPHAL

Description:

Habit & Habitat: Netted Custard Apple is a fruit which is a close cousin of Sugar Apple. The
tree that bears these fruits is a small deciduous or semi-evergreen tree sometimes reaching
10 metres tall and a native of Central America.

Leaves: The ill-smelling leaves are deciduous, alternate, oblong or narrow-lanceolate, 10- 20 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, with conspicuous veins.

Flowers: Flowers, in drooping clusters, are fragrant, slender, with 3 outer fleshy, narrow petals 2-3 cm long, light-green externally and pale-yellow with a dark-red or purple spot on the inside at the base. The flowers never fully open.

Fruit: The compound fruit, 8-16 cm in diameter, may be symmetrically heart-shaped, lopsided, or irregular; or nearly round, or oblate, with a deep or shallow depression at the base. The skin, thin but tough, may be yellow or brownish when ripe, with a pink, reddish or brownish-red blush, and faintly, moderately, or distinctly netted.
Uses: Food- Custard apple can be eaten raw, out of hand as a fresh fruit. It is not as popular
as the sugar apple or the cherimoya. It can also be prepared as juices, ice-cream or puddings. In India, it is cooked into a sauce.

Other– The leaves and the branches can be used for tanning as they contain blue pigments. Wrappers, ornaments and hats can be made from the inner bark. The wood is soft and can be used to make utensils, even though, it is weak and of bad quality