Soursop vs Sugar-Apple: What's the Difference?
Short answer: Soursop (Annona muricata) and sugar-apple (Annona squamosa, also called sweetsop) are cousins in the custard-apple family. Soursop is big - often the size of a small rugby ball - with soft-spined green skin and tangy, fibrous flesh tasting of pineapple and citrus. The sugar-apple is small and round with a knobbly, segmented skin that pulls apart, and its flesh is very sweet and custardy. Soursop is tart and juicy; sugar-apple is sweet and creamy.
| 🍈 Soursop | 🍏 Sugar-apple | 🍮 Cherimoya | 🍈 Atemoya | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | 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). | 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. |
| Type | Tropical & subtropical | Tropical & subtropical | Tropical & subtropical | Tropical & subtropical |
| Peak season | Summer, Autumn, Year-round | Summer, Autumn | Autumn, Winter | Autumn, Winter |
| Origin | Tropical Americas and the Caribbean; spread early across the Pacific tropics | Tropical Americas (exact origin debated); carried to Asia by the Spanish so early it feels native there | Andean highlands of Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia | A deliberate hybrid, first bred in Miami, Florida (1908) |
| Calories (per 100 g) | 66 | 94 | 75 | 94 |
| Sugar (per 100 g) | 13.5 g | 19 g | 12.9 g | 19 g |
| Vitamin C (per 100 g) | 20.6 mg | 36.3 mg | 12.6 mg | 43 mg |
| Fiber (per 100 g) | 3.3 g | 4.4 g | 3 g | 2.5 g |
| Potassium (per 100 g) | 278 mg | 247 mg | 287 mg | — |
| Typical price | Mid | Mid | Premium | Premium |
Soursop and sugar-apple both belong to the genus Annona, the custard-apples, and share soft, creamy white flesh dotted with hard black seeds. Size, skin, and sweetness set them apart.
A soursop (Annona muricata) is the giant of the family - often as large as a small rugby ball, green, and covered in soft, curved spines. Its flesh is fibrous, juicy, and distinctly tangy, tasting of pineapple and citrus with a creamy body, and it’s popular blended into juices and ice creams.
A sugar-apple (Annona squamosa), also called sweetsop, is small and round with a knobbly, quilted skin made of raised segments that loosen and pull apart when ripe. Its flesh is very sweet and custardy, eaten by hand a segment at a time. It’s one of the sweetest fruits in the whole custard-apple family.
Two relatives sit nearby: the cherimoya, smoother-skinned and richly sweet, and the atemoya, a cherimoya × sugar-apple hybrid that splits the difference. Across all of them the method is the same - eat the fruit soft, scoop the flesh, and discard the inedible black seeds.
Frequently asked questions
Are soursop and sugar-apple the same fruit?
No. They're both in the genus Annona and share creamy white flesh with black seeds, but soursop (Annona muricata) is large, spiny, and tangy, while sugar-apple (Annona squamosa) is small, knobbly, and much sweeter. Sugar-apple is also called sweetsop or custard-apple in some regions.
Which is sweeter, soursop or sugar-apple?
The sugar-apple is far sweeter - its name reflects its sugary, custard-like flesh. Soursop lives up to its name with a distinctly tart, tangy flavour, closer to pineapple and citrus with a creamy body.
How do you eat a sugar-apple?
Wait until it's soft and the segments loosen, then break or cut it open and scoop the sweet white flesh with a spoon, spitting out the hard black seeds. The knobbly skin is not eaten.