A crowd of over (200) eagerly lined up to attend the South Coast Research and Extension Center Cherimoya Taste Test on January 13, 2017.  Through an open tasting, evaluators were asked to rate the (15) varieties using a basic one to five scale based on texture, flavor, and overall performance.

The cherimoya collection at the South Coast REC contains various cultivars that are not widely available, and sought after by avid fans of this fruit. The varieties that were evaluated included ‘Big Sister', ‘Booth', ‘Concha Lisa', ‘Deliciosa', ‘Ecuador', ‘El Bumpo', ‘Knight', ‘Lucida', ‘Nata', ‘Orton', ‘Oxhart', and ‘Pierce', ‘Sallmon', ‘Santa Rosa', and ‘Surena'.

As in past years, the harvest at the time of the tasting was limited due to the cold night temperatures and rain in December and early January.

While ‘El Bumpo' and ‘Orton' were top winners in previous years, this year's favorites included:

South Coast REC 2017 Cherimoya Tasting Top Three Varieties
Rank	Texture	Flavor	Overall
1	Deliciosa	Pierce	Pierce
2	Pierce	Deliciosa	Deliciosa
3	Orton	Lucida	El Bumpo