Passion fruit 101

[heidih]

I let a passion vine go because it was not strangling anything of import and the Gulf Fritillaries are attractive. (plant hosts this butterfly). I recalled them being just a flavorless seed filled pod. I pulled one off today and it had a mildly sweet and floral taste and a not unpleasant crunch. I just popped some of the flesh coated seeds in my mouth. I know there are many varieties of passion fruit. Has anyone had any remarkable, in a pleasant way, with this type?

[Mjx]

The flavour sounds like dilute version of the passion fruit you see most often in shops, which only taste good when the outside looks like the fruit is too old, and has gone wrinkly. Does the fruit on these go to that stage?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Yours look like Maypops, Heidih; it's the more tropical members of the genus that are considered good eating, both for size and for flavour. All passionfruits are not created equal - most of what's grown in North America is for the flowers and not the fruit. Here in Ecuador, we consider 4 (native) species to be excellent for the kitchen; I'm off to the market today and I'll see what I can find of them. I'm very fond of Taxo and Granadilla, but they're only just starting to be in season. There are also forage varieties.

The ones to look for up north are Maracuyá, P. edulis flavicarpa and P. edulis edulis (which in the US and Europe is simply called "Passionfruit"), which can have either a golden yellow or deep purple shell, and which as MJX points out are fully ripe when they're kind of wrinkly and sad looking. These are the passionfruit with bright orange to yellow arils and pulp and a strong, aromatic somewhat citric flavour.

If you're in Europe, California or Florida, you might also run into Granadilla, which is P. ligularis (these are what Australia and Africa call simply "Passionfruit"), which has a hard yellow-orange shell and pale arils and pulp; it's sweeter and milder than the Maracuyá and more suited to eating out of hand.

If you're in Latin America, particularly the northern Andes, there's P. mixta, P. tarminiana, P. tripartita var mollisima and P. coccinea, in Ecuador called Taxo and Sachataxo (also sometimes called Curuba), which are banana passionfruit. These have yellow to orange edible fuzzy skins, are about the size of a large Romeo y Julieta cigar, and bright orange flesh with a distinctive citrus flavour. Taxo are the best passionfruit for milkshakes according to most Ecuadorians.

And finally, in all of Latin America and the Caribbean, there are Badea, or Giant Granadillas, P. quadrangularis. These are the size of small melons, weigh about 2-3 lbs, and are filled with pale arils that are as aromatic as Maracuyá with a distinct aroma similar to Babaco and pineapples.

[heidih]

Great overview PC. The orange "skin" on mine is very soft. I have seen the hard wrinkly purple ones before and once bought some larger orange/yellow ones from a flea market vendor. The latter were so fragrant I had to roll the windows down on the long drive home.

So generally when people use the fruit is that bit of flesh removed from the seeds and used, or is the seed crunch part of the charm and experience?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

The seeds, when eaten in excess of one passionfruit in a day, are strongly laxative. But on the bright side, they're also an excellent vermifuge, so many curanderos (natural healers) here recommend that to deparasitize oneself, it's a good idea to eat three or four at one sitting.....

Generally, passionfruit is juiced in the blender or with an immersion stick and then strained before eating, or the seeds are sucked out of the arils and spit out (giving rise, in the tropics at least, to more passionflower vines).

[Mjx]

Can passion fruit be ripened, once it's been picked? The only ones locally available are unripe, so I've never bothered with them, but if ripening them is an option, I'd love to give that a go.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Passionfruit can be ripened after picking. Let it sit on the counter in your fruit bowl until it starts to get wrinkly (if it's a Maracuyá) or let it sit in a sunny window ledge until it turns gold (if it's a Granadilla).

[Mjx]

Passionfruit can be ripened after picking. Let it sit on the counter in your fruit bowl until it starts to get wrinkly (if it's a Maracuyá) or let it sit in a sunny window ledge until it turns gold (if it's a Granadilla).

Thanks! I've now got three purply-green guys sitting in the fruit bowl... I just hope they don't do that Eddie Izzard recalcitrant-ripening-fruit thing.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Passionfruit can be ripened after picking. Let it sit on the counter in your fruit bowl until it starts to get wrinkly (if it's a Maracuyá) or let it sit in a sunny window ledge until it turns gold (if it's a Granadilla).

Thanks! I've now got three purply-green guys sitting in the fruit bowl... I just hope they don't do that Eddie Izzard recalcitrant-ripening-fruit thing.

If they do, you can do the Eddie Izzard in Italy thing to them - hop on your Vespa and say "ciao!" like you're the coolest person ever. You've got P. edulis flavicarpa - there's an additional level of ripeness indication with those. They'll turn purple entirely before they start wrinkling up like humiliated grapes.

[Mjx]

Thanks! I've now got three purply-green guys sitting in the fruit bowl... I just hope they don't do that Eddie Izzard recalcitrant-ripening-fruit thing.

If they do, you can do the Eddie Izzard in Italy thing to them - hop on your Vespa and say "ciao!" like you're the coolest person ever. You've got P. edulis flavicarpa - there's an additional level of ripeness indication with those. They'll turn purple entirely before they start wrinkling up like humiliated grapes.

Well, after reading that, I ended up saying 'Ciao' to the lot (no Vespa, so I just had to settle for eating them in a devastatingly cool way), since I decided to hack one open and see how the flavour compared with the wrinkly-state ones.

It was very good.

So good that I gazed at the others, reflected a good two seconds on your earlier comment regarding the purgative effect of eating more than one, then decided to chalk up any distressing outcomes to 'science' (sounds way more respectable than 'greed'), and scarfed down the other two.

The only thing that puzzles me is that the flavour for this particular kind doesn't seem to be significantly different before and after wrinkling.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I think the flavour thing might be more evident on vine-ripened and picked at peak vs. picked-green and gas-ripened passionfruits. What I've found with Maracuyá is that the greener or less ripe naturally the fruits are, the yellower the pulp is and the more acidic the flavour. A vine-ripe, properly mature Maracuyá has an intense floral scent, bright orange pulp, and is subtly sweeter than a green one.

Of course, I can only tell you this because of my "scientific" method of scarfing multiple examples, both ripe and green, whenever the opportunity presents itself....

[Panaderia Canadiense]

And under the heading of "better late than never" I've actually got some passionfruit photos to share!

Granadillas. These are tiny examples of the genre, but the smallest ones are often the most flavourful. The thickness of the shells is representative, though.

Maracuyá. These, on the other hand, are large examples of their kind.

Taxo. These are taxo proper; I'll try and get some sachataxo photos later on. Of all the passionfruits I eat, these have the thinnest shells.