THE STANDARD GUIDE. 
192 
Sour-Sop (Guanabana).— The sour-sop is a green, irregular-shaped, 
pod-like fruit varying from 3^2 to 12 inches in length, about two-thirds as 
broad near the top, and curving to a blunt point at the lower end to one 
side of the center. The skin is rather thick and covered with numerous 
small, hooked briers. The pulp, which has the appearance of wet cotton, 
surrounds the numerous tough seed sacs containing small brown seeds. 
The flavor is acid without being sweet. It is highly esteemed for making 
cooling summer beverages, flavoring soda-water syrups and water ices, 
and for preserving. The most popular beverage is made by macerating 
the fruit with sugar, diluting with water, and straining off the pulp. The 
“guanabana en almibar” is composed of the pulp of the fruit preserved in 
sugar syrup. The “pulpa de guanabana al natural” is the pulp preserved 
without sugar for cafe and soda-water trade when the fruit is out of 
season. 
Sweet-Sop (Anona) —The sweet-sop is heart-shaped and deeply creased. 
The pulp is very much like that of the sour-sop, but it contains more 
sugar and, as a rule, a smaller percentage of acids. Sweet-sops are eaten 
in the fresh state, and are also used in making water-ices and soda-water 
syrups. It is not so popular as the sour variety. 
Star-Apple (Caimito). —The caimito, one of the less important fruits, 
is but little used, although some medicinal properties are attributed to it. 
Three different varieties are sold in the Havana market, one white and 
two purple kinds, one of which is round and the other oval. The fruit 
attains the size of a small apple, averaging 200 grams (7 ounces) in weight. 
It contains two kinds of pulp, the inner one of which, a white gelatinous 
mass containing the small black seeds, is the edible portion, constituting 
only one-third of the fruit, the outer fibrous purple portion being useless. 
It has a sweet characteristic flavor and is eaten raw. 
Tamarind (Tamarindo). —The tamarind is the fruit of a leguminous 
tree. The fruit is a dark brown pod, from 1 to 6 inches long and from 
to 1 inch in width. Within, there is a thick, dark-colored pasty material 
closely surrounding the tough seed sacks and joined to the stem of the 
pod by several coarse fibers. This paste constitutes the edible portion 
of the fruit, and is intensely sour. The fruit is used in making refreshing 
summer beverages and for flavoring soda-water syrups. 
