Atemoya

Cross between the Cherimoya (Annona cherimola) and the Sugar Apple or Sweetsop (Annona squamosa)

This is one of a genus (Annona) of pudding-like fruits that are indigenous to tropical America and the West Indies. Atemoya’s appearance on the scene is recent. It was “invented” by an employee of the United States Department of Agriculture, P. J. Wester, in 1907—but, as it turned out, nature had already come up with the same cross in 1850 in Australia, and did so again in Israel in 1930. The tough-skinned, gray-green fruit, which resembles in size and shape a distorted, slightly melted, Stone Age artichoke, is presently cultivated in Florida, from where it is shipped commercially on a limited basis.