Why you should add Guyabano/Soursop/Matomoko to your shopping cart...

GUYABANO/SOURSOP FRUITS

Scientific name: AnnonaMuricataCommon names: Matomoka (Kikuyu), cherongori (Kalenjin), matotomoko(Meru), guanábana(Spanish), graviola(Portuguese),  Brazilian pawpaw

Guyabano fruit is one of those fruits we tend to ignore at the market because its outer look isn't exactly attractive and its taste isn't on the sweet side either. This fruit tends to have several lookalikes like the horned melon so in case you’re still wondering, it’s a green, pear-shaped fruit covered with soft spines, thin skin and the soft edible whitish pulp that is fleshy and fibrous; the seeds are black and inedible. Guyabano fruit has a sweet-sour flavor/ a little tart that tastes like pineapple and strawberry with a tang of sour citrus taste.

The nutritional and health benefits of this not so known fruit are tremendous.  One of the early scientific researches done in 1976 shows that one chemical is 10,000 times more potent than the chemotherapeutic drug Adriamycin. Extracts from the tree were shown to: Effectively target and kill malignant cells in 12 types of cancer, including colon, breast, prostate, lung and pancreatic cancer.

The most important thing to note is that unlike chemotherapy, laboratory tests show that the compound extracted from the Guyabano tree selectively hunts down and kills only cancer cells and doesn't harm the healthy cells. Various parts of the tree–including the bark, leaves, roots, fruit and fruit-seeds–have been used for centuries by medicine men and native Indians in South America to treat heart disease, asthma, liver problems and arthritis.

This fruit is pumped with antioxidants, it has been found to have substances that can inhibit Herpes Simplex Virus, hypotensive activities; it lowers blood pressure as a vasodilator hence if you’re on hypertension drugs or you have hypotension/low blood pressure, you should take it sparingly. It also has anti-depressive properties among many other benefits, some of which are still under research.
The fruit and juice is used against worms and parasites, to cool down fevers, to increase mother's milk after childbirth. It can also be used for diarrhea or inflammation in the bowels as a drying agent.

On the overall nutritional value, Guyabano fruit is high in carbohydrates, particularly fructose. The fruit contains significant amounts of vitamin C, vitamin B1, and vitamin B2 just to name a few.

I've done my research on the availability of this fruit in Kenya and you can find it in most markets; City, Wakulima, Muthurwa just to name a few and also at supermarkets; Uchumi, Tuskys and Nakumatt among others. So the next time you come across Guyabano, don’t hesitate to add it to your shopping cart.