12 Amusing Facts About Annona (Guanabana)

Annona (Guanabana) is an evergreen tree with broad green leaves, which grows in the Caribbean, Central and South America, from northern Brazil to the West Indies. It is adapted to climates with high humidity and warm winters, temperatures below 5°C cause leaf fall, and temperatures below 3°C can be fatal. The taste can be compared to the taste of strawberries and pineapple mixed in the juice. It is more often consumed in the form of juice than the fruit itself.

Facts About Annona

1. This exotic fruit has many names: Guanabana, Graviola, Prickly Annona, Soursop, Annona Muricata.
2. The evergreen guanabana tree reaches a height of 9 s, and the size of its fruit is the largest of the entire Annon family - its weight can be up to 7 kilograms!
3. It is distributed in the Dominican Republic, Southern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, India, southern China, and also in South America.
4. Guanabana fruits are edible, their pulp is sour in taste and inconsistency resembles jelly. Outside, the sour cream apple is covered with a peel with thick thorns. The guanabana fruit is saturated with carbohydrates, sucrose, fructose, vitamins A, B, C.
5. But it is not recommended to eat a lot of them and for a long time. The fruit contains the substance "annonacin" - a chemical compound that is a neurotoxin. That is, it has a toxic (poisonous) effect on the nervous system of the body.
6. In the medicine of the countries of the Southeast, not only the fruits of guanabana themselves are used but also the leaves of this tree. In the culture of some peoples, it is regularly customary to drink teas from soursop leaves.
7. Guanabana leaf and seed extract have antiviral and anti-cancer properties. Eating guanabana fruit can help increase the milk supply in breastfeeding women.
8. Tea made from Graviola leaves will help with insomnia. Placing the leaves in your pillow can help you sleep better. The leaves, roots, and bark of the tree are used steep and used as a sedative
9. The same decoction helps to reduce pain and spasticity - this is a muscle condition with a pronounced tone, often a consequence of stroke, cerebral palsy, damage to parts of the spinal cord or brain.
10. A decoction of Graviola leaves helps to cure motion sickness The ripe fruit of Graviola helps cure scurvy. Also, raw soursop fruits are used to treat dysentery
11. The use of guanabana is not limited to medicine - the fruit pulp is processed and mixed with various fruits, adding it to ice cream and preservation. It is also added when making sauces.
12. But guanabana seeds are inedible, they are used in the production of pesticides.