Laurena Silva was born and raised on Kauai and has been farming since 1971. Silva grows on two acres in Kalaheo and does not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Opu Road Nursery specializes in growing tropical fruit and flowers and
Laurena Silva was born and raised on Kauai and has been farming since 1971. Silva grows on two acres in Kalaheo and does not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Opu Road Nursery specializes in growing tropical fruit and flowers and Silva makes flower arrangements.
What’s growing
Achiote, avocados, banana (carca), betel nut, breadfruit, citronella, herbs, longan, lychee, mango, seedlings, soursop, tropical flowers, wi apple.
SOURSOP
Soursop fruit, with its sweet flesh and distinctive flavor, is grown commercially to make juice, candy, sorbet and ice cream. The long, prickly fruit comes from the graviola tree, an evergreen native to Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
The name soursop is derived from the Dutch zuurzak meaning sour sack. It’s also called guayabano (Philippines); guanabana (Spanish speaking countries); corossol epineux (French); sirsak (Indonesia); graviola (Brazil); soursop and prickly custard apple (English). The fruit may have come to Hawaii with Don Francisco de Paula Marin in the late 1700s.
Soursop is a large, crooked heart-shaped fruit with small spike-like protrusions. Juicy white flesh is custard-like and sweet with a uniquely acidic flavor. The fragrance is similar to pineapple or banana.
Practitioners of herbal medicine use soursop fruit and graviola tree leaves to treat stomach ailments, fever, parasitic infections, hypertension, cancer and rheumatism. It’s used as a sedative and applied to the skin for arthritis. Various parts of the tree have been used for centuries by medicine men and native Indians in South America to treat ailments such as heart disease, asthma, liver problems and arthritis.
Season: Soursop is available year-round, with peak seasons in winter to late fall.
What to look for
Unripe soursop is shiny and bright green in color with rigid spikes and is hard to the touch. Ripe soursop is yellow-green, soft to the touch and spikes break off easily.
Storage
Ripe soursop bruises so it should be handled with care and consumed immediately. Flesh can be refrigerated or frozen.
Preparation
Soursop’s creamy flesh complements dairy products. Purees work well in mousse, custard, sorbet, ice cream, shakes and smoothies. A popular drink in the Caribbean is made with strained pulp, milk and sugar, as is juice mixed with wine or brandy. Jamaicans make a cocktail by combining it with lime juice and white rum. Soursop agua fresca is popular in Mexico, where the flesh is mixed with sugar and ice. Puerto Ricans add milk to soursop and sugar for Champola de guanabana. Popular ice cream ingredients include soursop, limes and cream. Cakes are made in Indonesia and candy in the Philippines, where young fruit is also eaten as a vegetable.
To use, simply cut fruit in half and remove inner core. White pulp surrounds large black seeds. Scoop spoonfuls directly into your mouth. Remove seeds by squeeze from pulp. Mash, blend or puree pulp before using.
Health benefits
Extracts of graviola have been shown to be effective against a number of viruses, bacteria and parasites in test tubes. Substances derived from graviola damage nerve cells and may cause neurological effects similar to Parkinson’s disease.
A study published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry in 1997 suggests that soursop compounds tested on breast cancer cells in culture were more effective than chemotherapy in destroying the cells.
Chemicals called acetogenins are thought to be the active ingredient. Laboratory studies have also shown graviola to be effective against certain breast cancer cells that are resistant to the chemotherapy drug Adriamycin. It is thought that the extract is able to block the cancer cell’s access to ATP, the source of energy for the cancer cell. Graviola showed anticancer effects in lab studies but human studies have not been conducted so data are lacking.
One cup of raw soursop pulp contains 148 calories, 7 grams of fiber and 2 grams of protein. It is a rich source of vitamin C and potassium and contains 155 mg of Omega-6 fatty acids.
Opu Road Nursery can be found at: Farmers Market: Kauai Community Market (Saturdays 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.). Silva’s fruits are used in products by Hawaiian Island Juice, Monkeypod Jam and The Right Slice. For more information or custom orders, call 383-3910.
• Marta Lane, a food writer on Kauai since 2010, offers farm to fork food tours and is the author of Tasting Kauai: Restaurants – From Food Trucks to Fine Dining, A Guide to Eating Well on the Garden Island. For more information, visit TastingKauai.com.
