As the wet season settles in Grenada, more and more soursop fruit continues to arrive in the U.S. from the country.
“The volume is starting to increase on soursop. I’ve got maybe 4,000 - 5,000 lbs. every week,” says Dennis Sever with Exotic Growers, Inc. in Homestead, Fl. “With it being wet season, the quality will get better and better and the volume will increase until January or February.”
While the spiky tangy-sour fruit, which can be sliced open and scooped out to eat, does grow in the summer in Grenada, its availability can be spotty. “In the summertime, we had a lot of quality issues. The growers tell me that soursop trees just grow over there. They’re not really grown in commercial properties,” says Sever. “So in the summer, there’s no irrigation there and it’s dry season so the quality suffers in the summertime.”
Soursop supplies are generally available year-round but with some gaps.
2017 looked different
This year’s availability of soursop is quite different from 2017’s. “Last year I didn’t have any soursop because there was a really bad crop. We had the hurricane that hit also,” says Sever. “But the year before that, around the end of September to early February, we had very good volume. Volume usually peaks at about 10,000-12,000 lbs. per week for us.”
Meanwhile the fruit continues to enjoy popularity with those who know it, particularly those in the Asian and Indian communities. “So people in the know want it. Everyone else doesn’t know what it is and won’t pay the price for it because it’s an expensive fruit,” he says. “The year before we really marketed it and went all over the East Coast trying to promote the fruit. The demand grew a little bit but it was a curiosity for most people and then it went back down again.”
Overall, pricing tends to settle in at $5.50/lb. for graded and sorted soursop, though pricing varies widely depending on where it’s available.
For more information:
Dennis Sever
Exotic Growers, Inc.
Tel: +1 (305) 393-1556
dennissever@icloud.com