VEGAN SOURSOP JUICE (CHAMPOLA DE GUANÁBANA)

This vegan soursop juice is at once rich and light, milky and floral. The cinnamon and almond milk takes its inspiration from horchata, while the soursop adds a bit of superfood somethin'-somethin'. I really loved this version of the beverage, and I'm excited to try many more of the variations I found across the Internet.

To be honest, this is my first time trying soursop, even though it grows abundantly in Florida. This tropical fruit goes by a lot of names: guanábana is the Spanish name, but you might also come across "graviola," "guayabano," or its Latin name, annona muricata. It's native to the West Indies and the top part of South America. The Spanish name even comes from the native Taíno name, "wanaban."

This fruit is also touted to have a lot of good health benefits, accounting for its "superfood" status. I'm always a little skeptical: what fruit DOESN'T have superfood qualities? However, it does seem like the soursop plant (especially the leaves and bark) has at least some important properties, specifically ones that are based in folk uses. And when it comes to the fruit, you can't go wrong with something so high in Vitamin C!

The fruit is traditionally used in Caribbean cooking in the form of juices, smoothies, or even ice cream. Today, I'm taking my inspiration from my recipe for champola de guanábana from the blog Sinergia Nutricional. I loved that this recipe is vegan, so I decided to make a slightly richer version here with pre-prepared soursop pulp.

There are so many variations for soursop juices and smoothies online! Here are just a few I found:

• Soursop pulp blended with only water

• Soursop pulp blended with yogurt and sweetened condensed milk

• Soursop pulp blended with milk, sugar, vanilla, and ice

• Soursop pulp blended with white sugar

• Soursop pulp blended with water, evaporated milk, sugar, and cinnamon

• Soursop pulp blended with almond milk and maple syrup

• Soursop pulp blended with water, ginger, nutmeg, honey, and vanilla

• Soursop pulp blended with water, sweetened condensed milk, nutmeg, and vanilla

Pick your poison! Just remember, that if you're using fresh soursop pulp, you need to remove the seeds before blending or risk making something that's ACTUALLY poison! 💀 

Friends, as a soursop newb, I could not be bothered to ripen, peel, and seed this fruit. Whoops! Bad food blogger alert. Many recipes said the fresh fruit produces way better flavor than the frozen kind, but I had to try my luck with frozen. You can check out this website with a video that shows you how to prepare the fresh fruit. Or, if you speak Spanish, this wiki how is great!

Add your frozen (or fresh) soursop pulp to a blender. I used seven ounces, or about one cup.

Add a cup of almond milk and 1/2 cup of coconut milk to the blender (already yum!).

Then add sugar and spice and everything nice: 1/2-1 teaspoon vanilla to taste, 1 big sprinkle of cinnamon to taste, and 1 tablespoon sweetener. I used grated piloncillo (a.k.a. panela). Piloncillo is unrefined cane sugar, but you could also use brown sugar, coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup, or even powdered jaggery if that's what you have on hand.

Blend to perfection and enjoy poured over ice and topped with a bit more cinnamon!