# What fruit am I? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2007, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365 "2007-05-09T05:41:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/1 "2007-05-09T05:41:35Z")
I am a very exotic fruit that xiix found in a western grocery store a few days ago. I have a semblance to a very stubby ‘star’ in that I have numerous ‘points’. I am very fat (much thicker than a mango) with olive green skin even when ripe. Inside I am white, with many large black seeds throughout. I have an unusual taste which might be described as creamy and rich, though my flavor is unique, I have the texture of a papaya. what fruit am I? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/2 "2007-05-09T05:43:21Z")
I’d say you’re a [star fruit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_fruit) (carambola.) ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/3 "2007-05-09T05:55:09Z")
xiix’s current theory is that he either imagined the stubby ‘star-like protrusions’ or else he simply stumbled upon a weird variety, but nonetheless after looking at 100+ fruit pictures and descriptions, he believes the answer is Cherimoya. > **[Cherimoya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherimoya)** > > Annona pubescens Salisb. > Annona tripetala Aiton > Annona cherimolia Mill. orth. var. > The cherimoya (Annona cherimola), also spelled chirimoya and called chirimuya by the Inca people, is a species of edible fruit-bearing plant in the genus Annona, from the family Annonaceae, which includes the closely related sweetsop and soursop. The plant has long been believed to be native to Ecuador and Peru, with cultivation practiced in the Andes and Central America, although a recent hypothesis postulates ... [![](https://static.flickr.com/54/110267532_4b43b2031b.jpg) ](https://static.flickr.com/54/110267532_4b43b2031b.jpg) [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Cherimoya\_fruit.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Cherimoya_fruit.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/4 "2007-05-09T06:26:54Z")
You are not a [dragon fruit.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/5 "2007-05-09T07:25:59Z")
Certainly sounds like a kind of [Annona](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annona), but maybe not a cherimoya - try googling ‘[atemoya](http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=atemoya)’, for example, and you get images that slightly more closely resemble the OP’s description. ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/6 "2007-05-09T07:30:58Z")
holy shit, apparently I can cause ‘dilated pupils, intense photophobia, vomiting, dryness of the mouth, burning in the throat, flatulence, and other symptoms resembling the effects of atropine (the poison from the deadly nightshade plant’. Also, Blindness can result from the juice of my crushed seeds coming in contact with the eyes. Those symptoms are the results of the consumption of my seeds. :dubious: [http://cherimoya.orcon.net.nz/pages/eat\_nutri.html](http://cherimoya.orcon.net.nz/pages/eat_nutri.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/7 "2007-05-09T08:29:23Z")
Blimey! I never knew that - lucky the seeds are hard as rocks, and big. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/8 "2007-05-09T13:02:28Z")
[QUOTE=xiix] ‘dilated pupils, intense photophobia, vomiting, dryness of the mouth, burning in the throat, flatulence, and other symptoms…’. [/QUOTE] Sounds like any given Sunday morning to me. What’s the problem here? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/9 "2007-05-09T14:05:09Z")
[Looks like something Dali would dream up.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Atemola_%28cross_of_Annona_cherimola_and_Annona_squamosa%29.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/10 "2007-05-09T14:14:51Z")
capo de tutti frutti ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/11 "2007-05-09T14:17:35Z")
If Dali did it, those little bumps would all be breasts. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/12 "2007-05-09T14:35:15Z")
They’re NOT? (If it were on a vine, it wouldn’t be Dali, it’d be Bosch!) ETA: I wrote that last line before seeing [this picture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pitaya_on_plate.jpg). The only question is, where were the Pitayas in the Late Middle Ages Low Countries? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/13 "2007-05-09T14:35:58Z")
I looked at the photos that Mangetout posted and I would have sworn that they were photos of custard apples (that is, cherimoyas) which I first encountered in Sydney. All these things have local names and I would have to be convinced they are different. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/14 "2007-05-09T15:13:23Z")
soursop? (aka guanabana) > **[Soursop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanabana)** > > Annona macrocarpa Wercklé > Annona crassiflora Mart. > Guanabanus muricatus M.Gómez > Guanabanus muricatus (L.) M.Gómez > Annona bonplandiana Kunth > Annona cearensis Barb. Rodr. > Annona muricata Vell. > Soursop (also called graviola, guyabano, and in Latin America, guanábana) is the fruit of Annona muricata, a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree. It is native to the tropical regions of the Americas and the Caribbean and is widely propagated. It is in the same genus, Annona, as cherimoya and is in the An... ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/15 "2007-05-09T15:21:41Z")
[QUOTE=Hari Seldon] I looked at the photos that Mangetout posted and I would have sworn that they were photos of custard apples (that is, cherimoyas) which I first encountered in Sydney. All these things have local names and I would have to be convinced they are different. [/QUOTE] All cherimoyas are custard apples, but not all custard apples are cherimoyas. The genus _Annona_ contains quite a few species, of which several are widely cultivated. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/16 "2007-05-09T17:03:04Z")
Paul Lynde ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/17 "2007-05-09T18:55:58Z")
woosh? huh? ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/18 "2007-05-09T19:01:36Z")
[QUOTE=xiix] woosh? huh? [/QUOTE] Old Hollywood Squares gag: Peter Marshall: “Paul, you’re the world’s biggest fruit. What are you?” Paul Lynde: “Humble.” ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/19 "2007-05-09T19:10:32Z")
[QUOTE=xiix] holy shit, apparently I can cause ‘dilated pupils, intense photophobia, vomiting, dryness of the mouth, burning in the throat, flatulence, and other symptoms resembling the effects of atropine (the poison from the deadly nightshade plant’. Also, Blindness can result from the juice of my crushed seeds coming in contact with the eyes. Those symptoms are the results of the consumption of my seeds. :dubious: [http://cherimoya.orcon.net.nz/pages/eat\_nutri.html](http://cherimoya.orcon.net.nz/pages/eat_nutri.html) [/QUOTE] Nitpick: Deadly Nightshade’s poison is Belladonna, a precursor to atropine. ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fruit-am-i/403365/20 "2007-05-09T19:30:15Z")
From [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCbEEMsdDCo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCbEEMsdDCo) Paul Lynde: Can a driver take exotic fruits across the boarder? Dean Martin: Well I once picked up a hitchhiker I wasn’t too sure about.