[SOP sb.1] The sweet fruit of a tree or shrub, Anona squamosa, allied to the SOUR-SOP, extensively cultivated in tropical countries. Also the tree or shrub itself. (Cf. sugar-apple in SUGAR sb. 5 c.)
1696. Sloane, Catal. Plantarum Jamaica, 205. Anona, foliis odoratis minoribus, fructu conoide squammoso parvo dulci…. Sweet-sop. In pratis & agris campestribus ubique spontanea reperitur.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 256. The Sweet-sop or Sugar Apple Tree.
1834. Penny Cycl., II. 54/1. The sweet sop … is often only a small bush,… it bears a greenish fruit covered with scales, and having the appearance of a young pine cone.
1871. Kingsley, At Last, ii. The sweet sop—a passable fruit, or rather congeries of fruits, looking like a green and purple strawberry, of the bigness of an orange.
