Have You Ever Tried a Custard Apple?

We’re so lucky in Australia to have growing areas from tropical to cool/mountain zones. The custard apple grows in tropical to subtropical areas like Queensland and northern NSW. It’s season is between March and September so now’s the time to try one. The skin is a dullish green with a textured look due to nodules all over it. Size can vary from large, like a rockmelon to something smaller like a grapefruit. When you buy one make sure it’s firm because they bruise easily when ripe. Allow to ripen at room temperature such that it yields to gentle pressure. After ripening it can be chilled in the refrigerator for a short while.

Cut it into quarters and you will see large black seeds surrounded by soft white flesh. It discolours quickly so squeeze lime or lemon juice over it. Scoop out the flesh but don’t go too close to the skin.  It’s very sweet and has what I call a perfumed taste, which reminds me of … best for you to decide for yourself! Enough to say it’s a tropical delight in winter. How lucky we are!

Stephanie Alexander has little section on custard apples (in the tropical fruit section) in her great book the cook’s companion. She also mentions a recipe for custard apple icecream from Mogens Bay Esbensen’s book Thai Cuisine. I intend to make it sometime soon so I’ll let you know what I think.

As with a lot of fruit, I think sometimes they are just fantastic eaten fresh from the hand. This applies to the custard apple - just squeeze a little lime juice over the flesh and enjoy.

The recipe below takes the custard apple about as far as I think it should go in a recipe. It’s called a ‘fool’ because it’s a blend of fruit and whipped cream and because it’s so simple to make. You make up your own quantities according to taste and serves required.

Custard Apple and Raspberry Fool

1. Remove the flesh from a custard apple and puree with a little lime juice as suggested above.
2. Crush some raspberries or strawberries roughly and macerate them in icing sugar
3. Add some passionfruit pulp.
4. Whip up pure cream, with icing sugar to taste
5. Gently fold all the ingredients into the cream and there you have it

Note: Frozen berries in winter are the way to go and if you don’t like the fold-in version given you can always layer cream and fruits in a glass to impress the family.

Buy The Cook’s Companion here

Thai Food by Mogens Bay Esbensen may be hard to find - try second-hand bookstores or online.

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