7?> FOOD FOR THE TROPICS 



(Venezuela); Papayo (Peru); Thin-bau, etc. (Burmah).; 

 Mnh-kwa (China) ; and Papa, etc. (Malay). The flowers 

 with the male (on long stalks) and those with the female 

 (with no stalks) organs grow on separate trees. 



When the fruit is green it is peeled, boiled, cut into 

 small pieces, and served with oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper, 

 thus forming a very palatable vegetable ; it is also used 

 in curries or pickled in vinegar. 



When ripe it is eaten raw, either with sugar, or with 

 pepper and salt. 



Sloane says "the unripe fruit is cut into slices, soaked 

 in water till the milky juice is removed, then boiled or 

 baked, and eaten with pepper and salt." 



The milky juice of the tree, much diluted with water, is 

 often used to make tough meat tender. The meat is 

 washed with the juice, and the action is due to a ferment, 

 which has the effect of separating the muscular fibres. It 

 is often sufficient to wrap the meat in the leaves for a short 

 time — perhaps half an hour — to obtain the same result. 



Custard Apple 



{Anona squamosa) 



This fruit is also called Sweet Sop, or Sugar Apple, 

 and is a native of the West Indies and tropical America. 

 It is called Atta (Brazil) ; Anon (Venezuela) ; Manoa- 

 Papoua (Malay) ; Serikaya (Java and Malacca) ; Ame-sa, 

 etc. (Burmah) ; Fan-lih-chi (China) ; Sharifah (Hindu- 

 stani and Arabic) ; and Sita-palam (Tamil). 



