We have a fast-growing soursop tree in our compound, and this year, it produced its first set of fruits. The tree is at the corner of the compound, and since we are quite many in the compound, the people living closer to the tree appeared as the owners. I did not bother about this because, normally, I can freely go and pluck from it since I am a member of the compound.
Two days ago, while removing clothes from the sun, I noticed that a particular fruit I had been targeting to pluck when ripe had been taken. When I asked the woman who lives closer to the tree, she said it was not plucked but had fallen on its own.#
“Oh! That’s good! That means it ripened naturally,” I happily said.
“That’s what it’s supposed to mean, but I saw something different. It fell while it was not soft. I do not understand this one in particular,” the woman said as she brought out the fruit and handed it over to me.
That was when I remembered that soursop is ripe when it becomes soft and succulent. But this one was hard. I was given the fruit, and I collected it, hoping to keep it at home to see if it would get soft the next day. Its skin looked very fresh and yellowish, which, from afar, would make one assume it was already ripe. But no, the yellowish skin was deceptive.
This morning, when I brought it out from where I had kept it, I saw that half of it had decayed while the other part, which was not decayed, was still very hard. At that moment, I knew it was not edible, even if the fresh part eventually became soft. I thought about cutting off the decayed part but then asked myself, “For what reason?” I immediately dismissed the idea and trashed it.
It was obvious that the fruit was corrupted, which was why it fell on its own before ripening. When I asked the woman if the other ones they had eaten were like that, she said none—until the one that fell on the same day as the one they gave me.
We still have about eight or nine fruits hanging on the tree. I am patiently waiting for a better one to ripen so I can enjoy myself with the fruit.
Do you not like soursop?
A very good, soft, and well-ripened soursop can be so delicious. It is one of the fruits I grew up with in the village. Back then, we never allowed it to ripen and fall from the tree because it would scatter on the ground. We always examined the fruits with our hands once we noticed that maturity was setting in. As soon as we saw that it was succulent enough to eat, we plucked it, and it could be very delicious when eaten fresh from the tree. Good old days!
Now, I am living in the city, and trees like this are hard to come by. We are lucky to have that fruit in the compound. It was not planted by anyone—it just grew on its own.
Thanks for reading.
Photos are mine