Man vs. Wild, Pond Apple Edition.

Date: June 8th, 2016

Location: Everglades; Royal Palm Anhinga Trail 

Group two landed down in Fort Lauderdale today and didn't wait to get started on their journey. As group two hit the trails today in the Everglades I found two things that were undeniable: 1) It was excessively humid and raining and 2) the Pond Apple trees made me hungry so I began to wonder if I could eat them, this is what I found out about them...

Pond Apple Tree

The Pond Apple, Annona glabra, can grow in saltwater but not in a dry area. When the fruits drop they float in the water. Traditionally, the American Alligator eats these fruits BUT humans can eat them as well. Humans can eat the flesh of the pond apple and it can be made into jam that, depending on the person, was found very tasty.  It is also said that there is an extract from the pond apple that has anticancer compounds in it. On the other hand, the seeds of the fruit ARE NOT edible. If ingested by fish they will be poisoned and if ingested by humans they could be potentially blinded from the powder of the seeds. 

So if you ever find yourself lost in the Everglades, desperately in need of food, exhausted, with no cell service but you cant bring yourself to munch on a crunchy Lubber or a soft Anole then you can eat the flesh of the pond apple but NOTHING ELSE. If you are ever in a Man vs Wild experience I hope this helps you if you're lost among the Everglades and have no other choice then to eat a pond apple. The Pond Apple is edible and inedible to humans, so the risk is yours to weather or not you would take the risk of eating the flesh to save you're life, just avoid the seeds!!

Stay tuned for another installment of Man vs Wild the full tropical osprey edition.

                                                              Pond Apple and its seeds.

For more information on the Pond Apple use this link.
To review the site we visited today click here.