How to Eat Atemoya
Spiky, green and ready to party, atemoya fruits are a close relative of the cherimoya. They have a similar tropical flavor, too, with tart sourness that tastes a lot like pineapple. In fact, biting into a fresh, ripe atemoya is like experiencing nature’s most perfect, creamy pina colada in fruit form! The white flesh is sweet, tart and tropical with flavors of pineapple, cherimoya and vanilla.
Atemoya are at their most tasty and fragrant when fully ripe, and the white flesh is juicy, custard soft and scoopable. You’ll be able to tell that atemoyas are ripe when there’s slight browning on the skin, and the fruit yields slightly to gentle thumb pressure.
If you can manage to keep yourself from devouring all your atemoya at once, they can be used in a variety of ways. Cook them in sweet recipes like jams, candies, ice cream and sorbet. Slice raw atemoya over salads, yogurt or granola. Make fresh or frozen drinks from atemoya fruit and juice for a tropical twist on your favorite beverages!
Atemoya are harvested when they’re green, which is the natural ripened color of their peel. Browning around the edges of their textured skin will happen naturally as the fruit ripens. Inside, atemoya flesh is milky white, firm but effortlessly scoopable and juicy. At the center are large, hard black seeds with pointed ends.
How to prepare your atemoya will depend on the recipe you’re using. Here are the most common ways to prepare atemoya for just about any recipe.
The first time you see one of these funny fruits you’ll notice peel has a lot of texture. However, it’s surprisingly easy to cut with a sharp knife. First, slice the atemoya in half lengthwise. Eat it with a spoon directly from the peel, or slice it further for other preparations. To do this, carefully scoop out the flesh to separate the skin from the fruit. Be sure to discard all of the seeds before using in recipes as they are inedible and toxic.
The sweetly acidic atemoya adds fresh, tropical fruit flavor to raw and cooked dishes. Use them in sweet preparations like fruit salad, candy making, ice cream and pastries. They pair beautifully with delicate seafood like shrimp, scallops and fish, as well as chicken.
Atemoya are eaten in similar ways as one of its parent fruits, the cherimoya. So check out FruitStand’s collection of cherimoya recipes for more ideas on how to eat this specialty fruit.
Atemoya is a perfect tropical fruit for delicious beverages. After all, it’s basically a pina colada in fruit form! Process the pitted fruit in an electric juicer or press for fresh fruit juice at home. Dice up cubes of the tart fruit and add it to your coconut water, cocktails, batch drinks, and creative concoctions. To make delicious alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, use your atemoyas to make a basic syrup, then add it to your drinks.
Store fresh atemoya fruits in a cool, dark ventilated area for up to two weeks. As tropical fruit, atemoyas naturally prefer to exist temps above 55 degrees.
It tastes even better when it’s chilled! Once ripened, refrigerate whole or leftover atemoya fruit in a sealed container for up to three days.
Atemoya freezes beautifully, too. Wait until atemoyas are just ripe, then freeze them whole or peeled and pitted in an airtight container for up to three months.
Do you feel like an atemoya eating expert now? Show us your favorite ways to prepare and eat atemoya by tagging us in your culinary masterpieces on Instagram @Fruitstandcom!