Ata

At my Portuguese lesson today Ilídio gifted me an ata fruit from his garden. After some research I discovered it’s also known as the ‘sugar apple’ or ‘custard apple’ although I originally thought it resembled something like a mangosteen I’d encountered often in Asia. I think it originally made its way to Mozambique from Brazil or the Caribbean.

I found a reference to it in the colonially named Lost Crops of Africa (Vol III: Fruits). I don’t think it’s been lost to Mozambicans based on how ubiquitous it appears to be at markets, but of course it’s true that if a western researcher hasn’t conducted a PhD on it, it’s not real.

Here are some fruits even more commonly found than the ata.