Dictionary:

atemoya

  (ä'tə-moi'ə, ăt'ə-)

1. A conical or heart-shaped green fruit with edible sweet white flesh.
2. The tree producing this fruit, a hybrid between the cherimoya and the sweetsop.

[Philippine English ates, sweetsop (from Tagalog atis) + (CHERI)MOYA.]

[ah-teh-MOH-ee-yah] Though cultivated in Florida, this cross between cherimoya and sweetsop is a native of South America and the West Indies. About the size of a large bell pepper, the atemoya has a tough dusty green skin that has a rough petal configuration. The custardlike pulp is cream-colored and studded with a smattering of large black seeds. Its delicate, sweet flavor tastes like a blend of mango and vanilla. Atemoyas are in season from late summer through late fall. Though they often split slightly at their stem end when ripe, it's best to buy them when they're pale green and tender with unbroken skin. The fruit can continue to ripen at room temperature at home. Refrigerate ripe atemoyas 3 to 5 days. They're best served chilled. Simply halve the fruit, spoon out the pulp and enjoy. Atemoyas are high in potassium and vitamins C and K.

The atemoya is a cross between two tropical fruits – the sweetsop (Annona squamosa) and the cherimoya (Annona cherimola) – which are both native fruits of the tropical Americas. Atemoyas are popular in Taiwan where they are known as the "pineapple sweetsop"(鳳梨釋迦) and are sometimes mistaken as a cross between the Sweetsop and the Pineapple.

Left: Taiwanese "pineapple shijia" (Atemoya, a hybrid of sugar-apple and cherimoya); Right: Regular Taiwanese shijia

An atemoya is normally heart-shaped or rounded, with pale-green, easily-bruised, bumpy skin. Very juicy and smooth, with the white flesh tasting slightly sweet and a little tart, tasting somewhat like a Piña Colada. There are many inedible black seeds throughout the flesh of the atemoya. If the seeds are accidentally bit or crushed open, toxins will come out of the seed and may poison the eater^{[citation needed]}. Many say, however, that the crushed up seeds make a good insecticide^{[citation needed]}. Available late summer through early winter.

In Cuba they are called mamon, or cherimoya.

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