WTF? (What’s This Food?) is an occasional column where we see something unusual in the grocery store and ask “What’s This Food?” We purchase the food, research history and recipes on the internet, and prepare a dish with it.
I’m walking through the frozen food section when I come across a flat package that looks like it could be a type of pastry dough, except at the bottom of the package the following words are written, “100% fruit pulp.”
Meet the latest “What’s This Food?” ingredient: Sour Sop.
At first, I thought the words above it were a brand name, but a quick check showed Guana Bana is Spanish for sour sop. The back of the package recommends using sour sop to make shakes, mixing it with milk and a little sugar, or adding as an ingredient to make ice cream. I was intrigued enough that I threw it in my grocery cart.
Once home, a quick check on Wikipedia showed it’s a common fruit that blooms continually and is used in Mexico and Colombia, and very popular as an ingredient in agua fresca, ice cream and fruit bars. It’s high in carbohydrates, particularly fructose. In places where the plant is common, the indigenous people use the fruit and leaves as an herbal medicine. I also found this interesting video of some guy who claimed he smuggled a sour sop in from Asia and slices the fruit during his discussion.
I set the flat board out to thaw for a few hours. Once thawed, sour sop has the consistency of a stringy light tan water ice. It was slightly sweet, but fairly mild in taste. Just a hint of citrus, but also a strange creamy consistency such as a banana.
I poured the 14 ounces of sour sop in a blender and added about a cup of water and a tablespoon of sugar. I drank half of the mixture, and it was pleasant but very mild. It struck me I was basically drinking a fruit smoothie, so I thought I should add in some strawberries to the second half. Sour sop is not as creamy as yogurt, but it made a nice all fruit drink – good for a warm day.
Have you made anything with sour sop?
