Noina | น้อยหน่า | Annona squamosa
Family: Annonaceae - Genus: Annona
The custard apple is not common in Paksong area, but can be found alongside roads and on plantations.
The sugar apple is a small, semi-deciduous, slow growing tree or shrub with broad, spreading branches. It can grow up to 8 meter tall. The leaves are thin, simple, with fine hairs underneath, and arranged alternately. Each leaf is rounded at the base and pointed toward the tip.
Flowering occurs in spring-early summer and flowers are pollinated by beetles. The flowers are solitary or in short lateral clusters of 2–4 about 2.5 centimeters long, greenish-yellow flowers on a hairy, slender stalk.
The fruit starts when the tree is 2 years old. Fruit is edible, light green in color, round-shaped (looks a bit like a giant green raspberry), and has a delicious white tinged yellow pulp. It is sweet and creamy, and consumed as dessert or used as an ingredient in making ice cream, jellies, etc.
Seeds are oblong, shiny and smooth, dark brown to black, 1.3 to 1.6 centimeters long.
The tree is also used medicinally in treating diarrhea, dysentery, colds, chills, rheumatism, and sleeplessness. It is said to have an anticancer function and it lowers uric acid levels in the blood. The seeds, when heated, can produce oil that can be used against agricultural pests. However, it should be noted that the seeds, leaves, and roots are poisonous due to occurrence of alkaloid and hydrocyanic acid in such plant parts.
Sugar apples season is June-September. When the fruit reaches full size, the green bumps become separated by a creamy-yellow color between them. The fruit is ready for harvest when it reaches this stage and when it feels slightly spongy in comparison to previously being rock hard.
THE TREE
The sugar apple is a small, semi-deciduous, slow growing tree or shrub with broad, spreading branches. It can grow up to 8 meter tall. Branches have light brown bark and visible leaf scars; inner bark is light yellow and slightly bitter; twigs become brown with light brown dots.
THE LEAVES
The sugar apple has thin, simple, with fine hairs underneath, and arranged alternately. Each leaf is rounded at the base and pointed toward the tip.
NOTE: even though the fruit is edible, the seeds, leaves, and roots are poisonous due to occurrence of alkaloid and hydrocyanic acid.
THE FLOWERS
Flowers of the sugar apple emerge during spring (May-June), They are small, about 1 inch long, produced singly or in clusters of 2 to 4 from the leaf axils on year-old shoots or new growth. The flowers are composed of 3 green, fleshy petals, 3 small, inconspicuous sepals, and numerous pistils on a common receptacle.
THE FRUIT
The fruit of the sugar apple is edible, light green in color, round-shaped, and has a delicious white tinged yellow pulp. It is sweet and creamy, and consumed as dessert or used as an ingredient in making ice cream, jellies, etc.
The fruit is composed of loosely cohering segments, which are easily separated when the fruit is ripe. There are numerous, small, shiny, dark brown seeds embedded in the pulp.
NOTE: even though the fruit is edible, the seeds, leaves, and roots are poisonous due to occurrence of alkaloid and hydrocyanic acid.
CULINARY USES
The fruit is edible, light green in color, round-shaped, and has a delicious white tinged yellow pulp.
It can be eaten fresh, it is sweet and creamy, and consumed as dessert or used as an ingredient in making ice cream, jellies, etc.
NOTE: even though the fruit is edible, the seeds, leaves, and roots are poisonous due to occurrence of alkaloid and hydrocyanic acid. DO NOT EAT THE SEEDS WHEN CONSUMING THE FRUIT!
NUTRITION
Sugar-apple is high in energy, an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese, a good source of thiamine and vitamin B6, and provides vitamin B2, B3 B5, B9, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium in fair quantities
TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USE OF NEEDLE FLOWER
NOTE: please take advice from a doctor if you are planning to use herbal medicine.
The tree is also used medicinally in treating diarrhea, dysentery, colds, chills, rheumatism, and sleeplessness. It is said to have an anticancer function and it lowers uric acid levels in the blood. The seeds, when heated, can produce oil that can be used against agricultural pests. However, it should be noted that the seeds, leaves, and roots are poisonous due to occurrence of alkaloid and hydrocyanic acid in such plant parts.
NOTE: even though the fruit is edible, the seeds, leaves, and roots are poisonous due to occurrence of alkaloid and hydrocyanic acid.
INTO THE WILD: a down to earth experience
For guests and visitors to Paksong we organize weekly tours "The Edible Forest" and Foraging weekends: Into the Wild. We work with local guides to take you in the jungle of Paksong. After foraging, we will cook a meal with the ingredients, using bamboo together with you!
Come and join and learn about the abundance of food that nature gives us!
INTO THE WILD!
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