A New Fruit: Guanabana (Don't Be Such A Soursop!)

A New Fruit is a new blog segment that I will be adding to during my time here in the D.R.

First up, the guanabana. When Kathy was here, we saw some on a tree. She asked Wil for the name. He said, "guanabana." Almost immediately she sang, "gua-na-bah-na, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo gua-na-bah-na, doo, doo, doo, doo." It was a clever reference for putting the correct emphasis on the correct syllable since she sung it to the "Mah Na Mah Na" song from The Muppet Show. From that point on any time we saw a guanabana on a tree or in the market or store, we both would hum or sing the song.

A fun fact about the song "Mah Na Mah Na" is that it was first used in a 1968 Swedish psuedo-documentary about wild sexual behavior and other activity. The song was the background to a sauna scene. And, the song was a big hit in several countries in that year. Just some information to fill your brain...

Back to guanabana (I know you just hummed the song).


Guanabana is a fruit with a knobby peel that grows on trees. It is similarly shaped to an avocado, but larger than most avocados that you have seen.


I peeled it to expose the white creamy flesh.


I cut some of the fruit away so that you could see the brown seeds.

The flavor of the guanabana is good. It is a funny combination of strawberry and pineapple. But the fruit has a texture that is not for me. It is somehow like a banana, but creamier. I prefer guanabana as a juice because as I mentioned the flavor is quite tasty. I have also enjoyed guanabana in Skimice form (like a Fla-Vor-Ice).

The English name for guanabana is soursop. It is supposed to have a tart citrusy flavor undertone. I didn't notice that much in mine.

**Now for a health related factoid about guanabana. Don't eat too many. There is some research that links the consumption of guanabana in high quantities with atypical Parkinson's Disease due to the fruit's high concentration of annonacin. And now you know why I titled this post, "Don't Be Such A Soursop!"