Today I planted another cool tree from Joe, a Junglesop tree (Anonidium mannii) which grows in the jungles of West and Central Africa. In the family Annonaceae it produces the largest fruits, much bigger than rollinia or soursop. Each fruit usually weighs around 10 pounds but it can be as heavy as 30 pounds. Although its considered an understory tree, it can get quite large… up to 100 feet tall and the trunk can be 6 feet in diameter.
The fruits are quite popular, in the Central African Republic a person might spend more than a whole days salary to buy one large fruit. Junglesop is also the favorite fruit of bonobos. The flavor of the fruit highly depends on the genetics and stage of development but a good one is supposed to be soft with a distinctive peach flavor and from there it can be sour and sweet or something in between.
I planted the Junglesop next to one of the rollinia trees that had an accident and hasn’t quite recovered. We’ll see what happens!
Originally posted on 2021-10-21, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.