Soursop Season

... is here, and I'm feeling intimidated. All that juice and pulp in the bowl is up to the "1-1/2 quart" line, and it's from just one fruit. The other bowl, on the right, is the skin (leathery and a bit brittle) and probably 80 or so seeds (hard, dark, the size and shape of of small almonds).

The reason I'm feeling intimidated is we've got another 2/3 of one in the fridge (I put a generous amount in my post-workout smoothie today, and barely made a dent in it), five ripe ones ready for attention, three more that will be ripe probably by tonight, and more on the tree.

Fortunately, evaluation of on-the-tree soursop goes something like this: not ready yet ... not ready yet ... not ready yet ... still not ready .... SPLAT! overripe and on the ground. Which means we won't have to deal with all of them.

I asked my yard guy if he had any advice on when they're ready to come off the tree, and he said, "about three days before they fall off." Thanks, that was helpful.

We plan to puree and freeze (in ice-cube trays) as much soursop as we can, because it is awesomely delicious in smoothies, which are a staple of our daily menu. It's also good frozen with banana, then run through the juicer, which produces a creaming, sweet, tangy delight that is remarkably like a rich icecream but without all that butterfat. Hmmm, I've also got some (purchased) blueberries and blackberries in the freezer, I think toss some of those in at least one batch.

First, though, I've got to make room in the freezer, which is already hosting a vast quantity of frozen bananas (slice 'em, freeze on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then store in a gallon size zip-lock baggie). And my icecube trays are still full of frozen lemon juice.

The truly amazing moment was about a month ago when, for an entire week, we completely ran out of frozen bananas. I never thought that would happen. But then another huge bunch ripened, so we're good for a while now.