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Passionflower fruit


lovebenton0

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I have a lot of these, passionately hugging my eight foot rose tree with vines of jewels. :wub:

gallery_12550_164_1099406887.jpg

The early blooms have already produced these beautiful red fruits. Mature fruit is about 3/4" in diameter. Dozens of green babies are still growing in their crowns of thorns.

gallery_12550_164_1099407217.jpg

Once ripe they are edible, they are sweet. :biggrin:

But what can I do with them? :blink:

Judith Love

North of the 30th parallel

One woman very courteously approached me in a grocery store, saying, "Excuse me, but I must ask why you've brought your dog into the store." I told her that Grace is a service dog.... "Excuse me, but you told me that your dog is allowed in the store because she's a service dog. Is she Army or Navy?" Terry Thistlewaite

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Oh, you lucky dog! Passionfruit are just about the most lucious things in the world! Make a sorbet, it's delicious. Or just pick a bowlful, slice them in half, and as Rhea_S suggested, have at them with a spoon. :wub:

“"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.

"It's the same thing," he said.”

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Isn't this lilikoi? My dad makes jelly out of it...it's FABULOUS! You can do all sorts of things with it though...almost anything you'd do with any other fruit....creme brulee, sorbet, souffle, ...but I just love it on my toast in the mornings...next best thing to being in the tropics :smile:

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I love these suggestions. Thanks to everyone.

These fruits are like thin-walled peppers -- just a few seeds inside, not pulpy or anything. Is this what everyone else has been referring to also?

These leaped off the fence we share with neighbors, planted by them last year, into my yard and just took off this year on their own. (I love when that happens! :biggrin:) Because of that I did not know the variety for sure. Some are edible and some are definitely not. So I asked before I chomped, he said he ate them all the time. OMG you should see their beautiful yard. I call them my arboretum neighbors, and they just munch their way through the gardening tasks daily. Anyway, that endorsement encouraged me to try them, not what I expected. But then none of my other passionflowers I've grown had ever produced fruit like this.

I've eaten them, just popping them like grapes, and have had no ill effects. :laugh:

But I can tell they will definitely benefit by additional sweetening.

Any comments?

Judith Love

North of the 30th parallel

One woman very courteously approached me in a grocery store, saying, "Excuse me, but I must ask why you've brought your dog into the store." I told her that Grace is a service dog.... "Excuse me, but you told me that your dog is allowed in the store because she's a service dog. Is she Army or Navy?" Terry Thistlewaite

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Judith~ those passionflowers are so beautiful! I remember when I was really little that we had a friend in Napa that had a huge passionflower vine and I always loved it. I tried several years ago to start my own from cuttings from a friend's vine, but they never "took" which was a big disappointment. At the time, I didnt' realize that they actually produced edible fruit. My dad lives in Hawaii and goes on "lilikoi" expeditions....the lilikoi grows here and there in the hills where he is and when you drive through, you see different colored ribbons tied to trees....places where other people had found the lilikoi, so they could return and find the trees for more fruit. I'm not sure that the lilikoi are the same variety as yours, but I do know that they are both types of passionvines. This discussion may just get me to try to plant a vine again, although I'm not sure I have a place for it that wouldn't be too intensely hot for it.....the picture is great tho! :smile:

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Judith... Could you ask your neighbor about the variety? In my previous house, I made the mistake of transplanting some of our native passionflower into my yard from the field next door. BIG mistake. They became a real pest, spreading by underground whatevers and I had the things coming up in all kinds of places that I didn't want them. I have to say that they never set fruit either. The only good thing I could say about them is that the flowers were pretty and they were the host plant for a flurry of fritillaries. I have also hunted them in Hawaii, with some success when I was there at the right time. Those were variable in flavor. I have to say, I have never seen the "crown of thorns" thingy. How have I missed that?

Gotta go google and see if I can find Judith's plant. :biggrin:

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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I forgot to add... Whenever we go to Hawaii, the first thing we stock up on at the grocery is POG... Passionfruit Orange Grapefruit juice mix. You might want to experiement with juicing and mixing up your own. It is wonderful.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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I forgot to add... Whenever we go to Hawaii, the first thing we stock up on at the grocery is POG... Passionfruit Orange Grapefruit juice mix. You might want to experiement with juicing and mixing up your own. It is wonderful.

Oh YEAH! I forgot all about POG! I LOVE that stuff!..geeze..the things we take for granted sometimes. I always wish they could make it here on the continent :cool:

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Judith... Could you ask your neighbor about the variety? In my previous house, I made the mistake of transplanting some of our native passionflower into my yard from the field next door. BIG mistake. They became a real pest, spreading by underground whatevers and I had the things coming up in all kinds of places that I didn't want them. I have to say that they never set fruit either. The only good thing I could say about them is that the flowers were pretty and they were the host plant for a flurry of fritillaries. I have also hunted them in Hawaii, with some success when I was there at the right time. Those were variable in flavor. I have to say, I have never seen the "crown of thorns" thingy. How have I missed that?

Gotta go google and see if I can find Judith's plant. :biggrin:

I did ask them the variety but have not heard back from them on that. I should ask again, perhaps they have remembered what it is by now. :wink:

As hard and fast as these have set in they probably would cover my house if they were closer. Where they are right now I'd be happy for them to take over that rock wall. The MX petunias above them are tough and the two could just fight it out. :laugh: Started out with a few of the MX petunias when we bought the house in '99 and this year they overran the moonflower vines that I had growing there for several years. No moonflowers. :sad: MX P also leaped to two new spots along adjacent rock wall below the veg garden. But they are welcome there between the lantanas and some pretty pink flowering thing that holds its own as well.

Looking at different PF varieties (and remembering my own from years in Houston) it appears to me that some are much more obvious in the crown of thorn characteristic. I used to know the symbolic legend that went with the passionflower, but do not remember it now. I need to google on that. Just a sucker for symbolism, I am. A link to the the iconographer in me. :laugh:

. . .  This discussion may just get me to try to plant a vine again, although I'm not sure I have a place for it that wouldn't be too intensely hot for it.....the picture is great tho! :smile:

Well, I'm in Central TX and these vines are wrapped around the rose bush that is sitting right out the sun, full day sun from morning to evening, with only a cloudy day to shade it. Certainly has not inhibited it at all! So I say it's worth a good shot. :biggrin:

There are so many varieties of passionvine and some are very similar to each other in appearance.

Judith Love

North of the 30th parallel

One woman very courteously approached me in a grocery store, saying, "Excuse me, but I must ask why you've brought your dog into the store." I told her that Grace is a service dog.... "Excuse me, but you told me that your dog is allowed in the store because she's a service dog. Is she Army or Navy?" Terry Thistlewaite

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I saw a really healthy vine on a fence in an older part of Houston the other day. The flowers were large and red! I think I saw some yellow fruit lurking in there as well. I immediately jumped to wondering how they tasted. :biggrin:

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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. . .  This discussion may just get me to try to plant a vine again, although I'm not sure I have a place for it that wouldn't be too intensely hot for it.....the picture is great tho! :smile:

Well, I'm in Central TX and these vines are wrapped around the rose bush that is sitting right out the sun, full day sun from morning to evening, with only a cloudy day to shade it. Certainly has not inhibited it at all! So I say it's worth a good shot. :biggrin:

There are so many varieties of passionvine and some are very similar to each other in appearance.

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  . . .  This discussion may just get me to try to plant a vine again, although I'm not sure I have a place for it that wouldn't be too intensely hot for it.....the picture is great tho! :smile:

Well, I'm in Central TX and these vines are wrapped around the rose bush that is sitting right out the sun, full day sun from morning to evening, with only a cloudy day to shade it. Certainly has not inhibited it at all! So I say it's worth a good shot.  :biggrin:

There are so many varieties of passionvine and some are very similar to each other in appearance.

Well, with that endorsement, how can I NOT try? :smile: Maybe if I get it started now it will be well acclimated by the time the heat hits in May. Definitely worth a try and a nice change from the bougenvilla that's everywhere! Thanks! :biggrin:

If you're growing bougainevilla with success, I think the passionflower will do just fine!

We want pics when it happens, if you're able. :cool:

Judith Love

North of the 30th parallel

One woman very courteously approached me in a grocery store, saying, "Excuse me, but I must ask why you've brought your dog into the store." I told her that Grace is a service dog.... "Excuse me, but you told me that your dog is allowed in the store because she's a service dog. Is she Army or Navy?" Terry Thistlewaite

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I saw a really healthy vine on a fence in an older part of Houston the other day. The flowers were large and red! I think I saw some yellow fruit lurking in there as well. I immediately jumped to wondering how they tasted. :biggrin:

If you get the chance, fifi, and everyone here :rolleyes: -- Horticulture mag for Dec has a nice article, Passionflowers, on the Windowsill. It has some very good advice about growing the vines potted also. Something I never really considered myself as the weather here didn't prompt me to think along those lines. A handy chart for suggested indoor varieties -- including fruiting info, edible or not.

In the article are several beautiful pics of different varieties. Not nearly enough to satisfy me, (since there are over 475 varieties of PF!) but really nice. :wink:

One of the varieties is a deep red, p. alata. This may be the one you saw, fifi. It has yellow or orange edible fruits. :biggrin:

Judith Love

North of the 30th parallel

One woman very courteously approached me in a grocery store, saying, "Excuse me, but I must ask why you've brought your dog into the store." I told her that Grace is a service dog.... "Excuse me, but you told me that your dog is allowed in the store because she's a service dog. Is she Army or Navy?" Terry Thistlewaite

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I just noticed this topic. Thanks for posting your pictures, Judith.

My late beloved uncle Henry Jo brought cuttings of passion flower vine back from Israel a few years ago. There was never any question in his mind what the word "passion" signified. I didn't associate the passion flower vine with the passion fruit (maracujá) I knew from my childhood.

I lived in Brazil many years ago, so I've tasted passion fruit juice many times. Here's a recipe for for a Batida de Maracujá . My tea-totaling Methodist uncle would not approve. :wacko:

Batida de Maracujá

Receita enviada por Maria Lucia Aragão

INGREDIENTES

1/2 garrafa de cachaça de boa qualidade ou de vodca

1 lata de leite condensado

1 garrafa de suco de maracujá industrializado (maguari)ou outro de boa qualidade ou 1 copo de suco natural de maracujá.

Gelo picado

Here's my best shot at translating. Johnny, Miguel, Pedro, or anyone else who speaks better Portuguese than I, feel free to correct me. :smile:

1/2 cup top-shelf cachaça *

1 can condensed milk

1 cup passion fruit juice (high-quality commercial or freshly juiced)

crushed ice

* we'll just ignore the suggestion that vodka may be substituted. :shock:

MODO DE PREPADO

Colocar tudo no liquidificador e bater por alguns minutos. Provar. Se necessário, acrescentar açúcar e se achar muito forte, acrescentar um pouco de água.Servir bem gelado.

Buzz it in a blender. Adjust sweetness and thin with water if necessary. Serve well chilled.

Edit: Add sweetness == add sugar. As Jinmyo would say, GAH!

Edited by edsel (log)
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Woooo! edsel! My mr would love this!

I have to be NA or I would love it too. :wink:

Judith Love

North of the 30th parallel

One woman very courteously approached me in a grocery store, saying, "Excuse me, but I must ask why you've brought your dog into the store." I told her that Grace is a service dog.... "Excuse me, but you told me that your dog is allowed in the store because she's a service dog. Is she Army or Navy?" Terry Thistlewaite

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Along the lines of edsel's cachaca recipe, I'll offer this island drink from the French West Indies.

Strain the seeds of the passionfruit and mix the pulp and juice with a little raw sugar and a measure of white rhum agricole. Mix and serve over ice. One of my distiller friend's serves this drink before lunch, made with fruit from his yard, and it's one of my favorite drinks made with rhum agricole. Like cachaca, rhum agricole is made from fresh sugar cane juice, though the distillation process is more refined.

Edward Hamilton

Ministry of Rum.com

The Complete Guide to Rum

When I dream up a better job, I'll take it.

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Thanks, Ed. That sounds simply perfect. :biggrin:

Who would know better than the Ministy of Rum? :wink:

Judith Love

North of the 30th parallel

One woman very courteously approached me in a grocery store, saying, "Excuse me, but I must ask why you've brought your dog into the store." I told her that Grace is a service dog.... "Excuse me, but you told me that your dog is allowed in the store because she's a service dog. Is she Army or Navy?" Terry Thistlewaite

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Judith, those pictures are gorgeous, girlfriend! I've never seen red fruits, either, but the yellow ones that I've always known as maypop are succulent and worth feudin' over when we were younger. They grew at our place in the desert in Az., as well, so I don't see why there should be any problem with Palm Desert.

We were quite the little scavenger eaters as sprouts. I remember my mom being quite "perturbed" with us, as we denuded the honeysuckle and nasturtium flowers to nip the ends and slurp nectar. That reminds me of a particularly enormous climbing nasturtium we had to shade our kitchen porch entry. I wonder if anyone grows any of the climbing ones? :rolleyes:

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Judith, those pictures are gorgeous, girlfriend! I've never seen red fruits, either, but the yellow ones that I've always known as maypop are succulent and worth feudin' over when we were younger. They grew at our place in the desert in Az., as well, so I don't see why there should be any problem with Palm Desert.

We were quite the little scavenger eaters as sprouts. I remember my mom being quite "perturbed" with us, as we denuded the honeysuckle and nasturtium flowers to nip the ends and slurp nectar. That reminds me of a particularly enormous climbing nasturtium we had to shade our kitchen porch entry. I wonder if anyone grows any of the climbing ones?  :rolleyes:

Maybelline, I have grown the climbing nasturtiums both in the Napa Valley and here in Palm Desert...they dont' do all that great here, but I had some the first two years we lived here...they were yellow and I loved them! Once we get our side yard relandscaped, think I'll put in some more of them! Thanks for the reminder :smile:

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NVNVGirl, thanks! That is precisely the one I was thinking about. Ours was yellow as well, and my mom would get so mad that we got to all the flowers, so that there weren't ever any seeds to pickle.

One of our not-so-successful forages were thinking that four o' clocks would taste as good as the honeysuckles or 'sturtiums. Blech...

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I'm confused, my passionfruit looks like this:

passionfruit.jpg

I love to eat the flesh with a spoon or add it into salads.

Are we talking about different varietals of the same thing?

Lovely passion fruit, Episure!

Yes, different varietals. In fact there are over 450 varieties of passion flowers. Not all are fruiting, and not all that fruit are edible. Mine, in fact are not pulpy, but thin-skinned like peppers. So far no one has commented on any like these. However, I'm thinking that including them sliced and seeded in a sweet sauce for cakes or ice cream would be wonderful. As well as making a jelly similar to jalapeno jelly (minus the vinegar aspect, of course), and using an apple or white grape juice prep as the base.

Judith Love

North of the 30th parallel

One woman very courteously approached me in a grocery store, saying, "Excuse me, but I must ask why you've brought your dog into the store." I told her that Grace is a service dog.... "Excuse me, but you told me that your dog is allowed in the store because she's a service dog. Is she Army or Navy?" Terry Thistlewaite

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