Fruits
Atemoya in gelato
Atemoya is a creamy subtropical hybrid fruit (Annona cherimola x A. squamosa) whose custard-like pulp tastes of banana, vanilla and pineapple. In gelato it serves as a delicate exotic flavour base, contributing natural sugars, soft body and a high anti-freezing load from its ripe glucose and fructose.
Balancing parameters
Per 100 g of product, verified against independent food-science sources (listed below).
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Total Solids | 26.5% |
| Water | 73.5% |
| Sugars | 21% |
| Fat | 0.3% |
| MSNF | 0% |
| Protein | 1% |
| POD (sweetening power) | 24 |
| PAC (anti-freezing power) | 34 |
Typical use: 20-35% of the mix as ripe sieved pulp (fruit-forward gelato/sorbet), commonly around 25-30%.
Balance atemoya in a real recipe
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Open the balancerHow to use it in gelato
Use fully ripe, soft pulp, sieved to remove the many black seeds and coarse fibre, and add it cold to protect the delicate custard-vanilla aroma. Because ripe pulp is dominated by reducing sugars (glucose plus fructose reach ~15 g/100 g), its anti-freezing power is high, roughly PAC 1.6x sucrose, so it clearly softens the mix; compensate by trimming added dextrose or invert and nudging up sucrose or stabiliser to hold structure. POD is about 1.1x sucrose, so it also sweetens slightly more than its sugar weight suggests. With very low fat (~0.3 g) and protein (~1 g), it brings flavour and solids but little emulsifying body, so build it on a milk or cream base rather than as a lean sorbet if you want a rounder scoop.
Origin & background
Atemoya was first bred in 1908 in Miami, Florida, when USDA horticulturist P. J. Wester crossed the sugar apple (Annona squamosa) with the cherimoya (Annona cherimola). Its name blends 'ate', an old Mexican name for sugar apple, with 'moya' from cherimoya. The hybrid was developed to combine the cherimoya's smoother texture and flavour with the sugar apple's greater heat and humidity tolerance, and it is now grown commercially in Australia, Brazil, Taiwan and the United States.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- https://www.tabelanutricional.com.br/atemoia-crua (TACO 4th ed. - atemoia crua: agua 72.74g, carboidrato 25.33g, proteina 0.97g, lipidios 0.3g, fibra 2.14g /100g)
- https://www.scielo.br/j/cr/a/WDpGyDVn4cSBsftvLd5ZNqP/?format=html&lang=pt (Ciencia Rural - Caracterizacao fisica e quimica das fracoes do fruto atemoia Gefner; acucares totais 58.05 g/100g MS na polpa)
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9964681/ (Plants 2023, 12(4):768 - sugar profile: glucose, fructose, sucrose as main pulp sugars; sucrose hydrolyzed during ripening)
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0925521423000972 (Postharvest Biology & Technology - post-ripening: reducing sugars reach 150.93 g/kg ~ 15 g/100g in ripe pulp)
- https://frutopedia.com/en/fruit/atemoya (support: carbohydrate 23.2g, protein 0.97g, fat 0.3g, fiber 2.14g /100g)