Soursop vs Cherimoya: What's the Difference?
Short answer: Soursop and cherimoya are both Annona fruits with soft, custard-like white flesh and dark seeds. Soursop is larger, green, and covered in soft spines, with a tangy tropical flavour (pineapple-citrus). Cherimoya is smaller, smoother-skinned, and sweeter, tasting of banana, pineapple, and pear. Cherimoya is milder; soursop is more sour.
| 🍈 Soursop | 🍮 Cherimoya | 🍈 Atemoya | 🍏 Sugar-apple | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taste | Custard-soft white pulp, aggressively aromatic — strawberry, pineapple, banana, and sour citrus at once, with a lactic tang like fruit yogurt. Fibrous around glossy black (inedible) seeds. | Sweet, aromatic, and creamy — banana, pineapple, papaya, and bubblegum notes in a soft custard flesh, with glossy black inedible seeds throughout. | Sweet vanilla custard cut with pineapple-citrus brightness — smoother than sugar-apple, tangier than cherimoya, with juicy, segmented white flesh. | Intensely sweet, custardy, and floral — vanilla, pear, and rosewater — with grainy-silky flesh that dissolves like soft meringue. Each segment wraps a glossy black seed (spit them; they're mildly toxic crushed). |
| Type | Tropical & subtropical | Tropical & subtropical | Tropical & subtropical | Tropical & subtropical |
| Peak season | Summer, Autumn, Year-round | Autumn, Winter | Autumn, Winter | Summer, Autumn |
| Origin | Tropical Americas and the Caribbean; spread early across the Pacific tropics | Andean highlands of Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia | A deliberate hybrid, first bred in Miami, Florida (1908) | Tropical Americas (exact origin debated); carried to Asia by the Spanish so early it feels native there |
| Calories (per 100 g) | 66 | 75 | 94 | 94 |
| Sugar (per 100 g) | 13.5 g | 12.9 g | 19 g | 19 g |
| Vitamin C (per 100 g) | 20.6 mg | 12.6 mg | 43 mg | 36.3 mg |
| Typical price | Mid | Premium | Premium | Mid |
Soursop and cherimoya both belong to the genus Annona, the custard-apples, and share the family signature: soft, creamy, custardy white flesh studded with hard black seeds. The differences are in size, skin, and sharpness.
A soursop (Annona muricata) is the big one - often as large as a rugby ball, green, and covered in soft, curved spines. Its flesh is fibrous and juicy with a distinctly tangy flavour, like pineapple and citrus with a creamy body, and it’s popular blended into juices and ice creams. A cherimoya (Annona cherimola) is smaller and rounder with smooth, scaled, or bumpy green skin, and its flesh is sweeter and silkier, famously likened to banana, pineapple, and pear - Mark Twain called it “deliciousness itself.”
Two relatives round out the family: sugar-apple (sweetsop), which is knobbly and very sweet, and atemoya, a cherimoya x sugar-apple hybrid that splits the difference. Across all of them the rule is the same: eat the fruit soft (it should yield to gentle pressure, like a ripe avocado), scoop the flesh with a spoon, and discard the seeds.
Frequently asked questions
Are soursop and cherimoya the same fruit?
No, but they're close relatives in the genus Annona. Soursop (Annona muricata) is larger, spiny, and tangier; cherimoya (Annona cherimola) is smoother and sweeter. Both have creamy flesh and inedible black seeds.
What is atemoya?
Atemoya is a hybrid of cherimoya and sugar-apple (sweetsop), bred to combine cherimoya's flavour with sugar-apple's tropical hardiness. It's sweet and creamy, between its two parents.
Can you eat the seeds?
No. The black seeds of soursop, cherimoya, sugar-apple, and atemoya are not edible and should be spat out or scooped away. Eat only the soft white flesh.