Soursop Punch

My friend Angus of Bob and Sophie's French Adventure blog recently posted about seeing a strange fruit in his supermarket.
The strange fruit was a Soursop (Annona muricata)/Graviola.
Soursop is in the same family as the custard-apple. 
This tropical fruit has a prickly skin on the outside and its pulp is made up of individual sacs filled with seeds on the inside.

My girlfriend had gifted me with a freshly picked soursop from her tree about two weeks ago but since it was not ripe......

I had to wait until it was ripe to make a Soursop Punch.
I wrapped it carefully in a sheet of newspaper and waited (impatiently).
One morning I knew it was ripe from the heavenly scent that enveloped the kitchen as I walked in. Unwrapping it I saw that the skin had now turned yellow and was ready to be used.
Soursop has a distinctive taste...a mix of tart and sweet...like pineapple and melon or papaya....a candy like taste.

First I peeled all the skin off.

Next I cut the fruit in half and removed the stem (heart) in the middle.

Then it was time to remove the seeds.
Most of the sacs are seedless and the seeds are black and shiny.

The seeds are encased in individual sacs inside the fruit.

Seeds and non usable pieces for the garbage.

Time to strain the delicious juice.  A large strainer over a glass bowl was perfect for this task.

Using the back of a large spoon, the juice was pressed/squeezed from the pulp.....

Leaving about a cup and a half of fresh soursop pulp.
At this stage I could have either made ice cream or a smoothie, but I was making Soursop Punch.

I'm not an advocate of cow's milk  and most folks use condensed milk and regular milk to make the punch.
You can use any kind of milk, I may even try soya milk next time.
Instead I added a tin of coconut milk, a tablespoon of vanilla essence and a few tablespoons (maybe 4) of sugar.
Blended the ingredients up in the blender till it with nice and  creamy.

The reward?  A lovely glass of fresh soursop punch.
Tasty!  Delicious!  Nectar of the Gods!
No I didn't drink it all at one time although I could have easily done so.  The remainder was shared with daughter dear and some was bottled and stored in the fridge....which didn't help matters at all since it was still consumed within a few hours.
Also check out my previous post on Soursop Ice Cream here.
The lovely vase above was a Christmas gift from my friend Frank many years ago. He had attended an estate sale and didn't buy anything for himself but he thought I would like the vase and he was right, I love it.  Now that the ginger lilies are fully grown and blossoming, I make sure that my table has fresh flowers everyday, and now every time I look at it I will be reminded of my friend Frank forever more.