Making Graviola/Maracujá Juice (Soursop-Passion Fruit Juice)

Yesterday, a friend of mine stopped by with a gift from her back yard. She has a graviola (soursop in English) tree growing there, and we're currently in the middle of the harvest season for graviola here in Fortaleza. She's overwhelmed with graviola, and kindly brought a good-sized one over as a present.

The fruit was very ripe, and I knew I had to do something fairly quickly with it, even though I refrigerated it immediately. I am a total fan of graviola juice, and so decided I would make fresh juice with the aid of my blender. I snooped around the internet a bit before I started, and found a suggestion to add the juice of one maracujá (passion fruit) per jar of graviola juice, which I thought was a wonderful idea. First, because I love maracujá. Second, the highly-acidic juice of the maracujá might cut the sometimes-sticky, custardy flavors of the graviola and would provide just a bit of a bite, which seemed to me would be a good thing. Fortunately, I had a couple of maracujás in the house, so I didn't need to go shopping before beginning.

I started off with one medium-sized graviola, very ripe.

First, I cut the graviola in half, and with my hands pulled the pulp out from the halves, seeds included.

I placed the pulp in a blender, and blended until the pulp was pureed and smooth. I then strained the pulp through a small sieve to remove the seeds and seed bits, plus any woody remainders of the pulp.

Then I poured the strained graviola puree into a juice car.

Next up was the maracujá.

I cut it in half, blended it and strained it just as I had done with the graviola. I was left with a small amount of juice that was very concentrated and acidic.

I added this maracujá juice to the juice car, plus about 2 cups of cold water to thin down the graviola puree. Brazilian recipes invariably call for the addition of sugar, but after testing I found that the sweetness of the graviola, even with the added maracujá juice, as just right and didn't need additional sweetening.

The juice was creamy and rich, and absolutely delicious. Pure graviola juice can be overly aromatic and almost cloying in texture and taste, and I thought the maracujá juice was exactly what was needed to avoid both of those problems. The juice still tasted like graviola juice, not maracujá juice. But it was tamed by the presence of maracujá and certainly made more refreshing. From here on out, I'll not make graviola juice without adding that magic ingredient - maracujá.

RECIPE - Soursop Ice Cream (Sorvete de Graviola)

One of the most popular, and delicious, ways to enjoy the aromatic and complex flavor of the fruit called soursop (graviola in Portuguese) is in the form of ice cream. It's the perfect refresher on a hot, tropical day and in most ice cream shops (sorvetarias) here in Brazil graviola is one of the best-selling flavors.

Although fresh graviola is extremely perishable and isn't available fresh outside the tropics, in many areas of North America and Europe you can find frozen pulp in Latin American and Asian markets.

This recipe for soursop ice cream was created with frozen pulp in mind and is easy to make in home ice cream makers. Try serving it to guests without telling them what the flavor is. They'll never be able to guess it I would imagine, but the rich flavor will turn them all soursop ice cream fanatics.

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RECIPE - Soursop Ice Cream (Sorvete de Graviola)

1 lb (400 gr) frozen natural soursop pulp, unthawed
1/2 cup (125 ml) cold water
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 cups whole-fat unflavored yogurt
1 cup demerara sugar
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Dissolve the cornstarch in the cold water, then heat in a saucepan over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Pour the cornstarch/water mixture into a blender, then add all the remaining ingredients. Blend at medium-high speed until the mixture is completely homogenous.

Pour the blender mixture into any type of ice-cream maker and process according to directions. Keep frozen until ready to serve.

For a more flavorful ice cream, remove from the freezer about 15 minutes before serving.


Recipe translated and adapted from Vila do Artesão.

FRUITS OF BRAZIL - Graviola (Soursop)

This large, green and spiny fruit belies its somewhat ungainly and unappetizing appearance with a highly perfumed creamy-textured, complexly-flavored flesh that is adored in tropical regions around the world. Although originally from Central America and the valleys of Peru the soursop (aka graviola in Portuguese, guanabana in Spanish, corossol in French, etc. etc. etc) was one of the first fruits to spread from its New World origins to the tropics of the Old World in the Columbian Exchange and today is eaten not only in Brazil and the rest of Latin America but also in Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

Graviola (Annona muricata) is truly a fruit of the tropics, and temperatures of 5C (40F) can be sufficient to kill a tree. In the USA it is only in the Keys of Florida, in the Caribbean Islands and Hawaii where cultivation of the graviola is possible. In Brazil, the tropical northeastern region of the country is the center of graviola cultivation and commercialization.

In contrast to the forbidding appearance of its exterior, the white or cream-colored flesh of the graviola, with its embedded shiny dark seeds hints at its rich flavor profile with a silky or custard-like texture. The aroma of this fruit carries hints of pineapple, and the taste might best be described as reminiscent of musky tutti-frutti or bubblegum. The mouthfeel is luxurious and rich.

Graviola can be eaten as-is, though pulling apart the flesh, extracting the seeds and eating the flesh tends to be a very messy business. It is more often eaten after some sort of processing - as frozen fruit pulp, as a freshly-made fruit juice, or as a flavor for mousses, ice creams, or yogurt.

Because the fruit is heavy (it can weigh up to 15 lb - 7 kg) very quick-ripening and fragile there is little market for export of the fresh fruit to areas outside the tropics. The juice can be canned or concentrated and frozen and these products can often be found in Latin American or Asian grocery stores in Europe and North America.

Just as nothing compares to a ripe, juicy strawberry that has just been picked and is still warm from the sun, the true luxuriousness of graviola can only be experienced by opening a ripe fruit, using one's hands to pry apart the creamy sacs of flesh to remove the seeds then popping the flesh into one's mouth and rolling it around with one's tongue before swallowing. For that, you'll have to come to Brazil, or go somewhere else in the tropics. And during this season of bitter cold and heavy snows in the Northern Hemisphere is that a bad thing?