Sugar apple, custard apple, water apple, star apple, velvet apple… None of these fruits taste like or resemble an apple so lets stop calling them apples. There’s no need to be so primitive in our use of language that we must always combine two familiar words to name something as some things are worthy of their own names. To me these apple-ending names are as ridiculous as fuzzy apple for peaches and baby apple for cherries so here are some better names for English speakers to use and links to photos:
sugar apple = sweetsop (there’s also a soursop)
custard apple = cherimoya (related to the above two along with atemoya and a rollinia)
water apple, wax apple, rose apple, java apple = bellfruit (there are many different types and closely related fruits)
star apple = cainito (related to sapodilla, canistel, and abiu)
velvet apple = mabolo (related to persimmon and black sapote aka chocolate pudding fruit)
I’ve been fortunate enough to have tried them all however there are even more, many more, delicious and nutritious fruits that I haven’t tried and I hope they don’t go extinct due to humanities love of meat, palm oil, and burning fossil fuels all of which are responsible for the deforestation and climate change that is killing off much of the biodiversity on this planet.