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Passion Fruit

Vicki Williams Published 11.02.2009

The passion fruit is one of the most intensely and heavenly scented of all fruits with its tropical fragrance. It has a sweet, yet tart flavour and is the fruit of the Passiflora or Passion Flower. It is native to South America and widely grown in India, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Brazil, Africa, and parts of North America.

The fruit is round to oval, yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with edible seeds. The two main types of passion fruit differ greatly in exterior appearance. The yellow variety can grow as large as a grapefruit and has a light rind. It is used as a rootstock for the purple passion fruit in some places, for example Australia. The purple passion fruit is smaller, between the size of a lime and a lemon and when ripe has a wrinkled rind.

History and Myth

In South America the passion flower became known as the "Flor de las Cinco Lagas" or Flower of the Five Wounds. According to various sources this is because early missionaries (or explorers depending on source) used the flower to illustrate the crucifixion of Christ. The three styles represent the three nails, the five stamen the five wounds, the ovary the sponge soaked in vinegar and offered on a stick or the hammer used to drive in the nails, the spiky corona the crown of thorns, and the five petals and septals the ten apostles (minus Peter and Judas).

PassionFlower

The flower is called the Clock-Face Plant in Japan and according to some has recently been adopted as as symbol for young, homosexual Japanese.

Health Benefits

The fruit is high in vitamin A, potassium, and dietary fibre, and a good source of Vitamin C.

The juice has a slight sedative affect due to the presence and combination of glycosides and flavonoids. The juice has been used as a treatment for anxiety and high blood pressure, while the leaves and roots of the plant are also said to have medicinal uses. And, according to a study by the University of Florida yellow passion fruit extracts can kill cancer cells in-vitro, due to the presence of carotenoids and polyphenols.

YellowPassionfruit

The flower itself is often used as a natural remedy for the treatment of nervous children. It is also used to treat asthma, insomnia, nervous gastrointestinal disorders and menopausal problems.

Buying and Eating

Passion fruit are available in Hong Kong most of the year, with the peak season being autumn through spring. When buying choose fruit whose weight would indicate a good juice content. In Hong Kong the two key places that we get passion fruit from are Kenya (the fruit is often ripe already when in the store) and Taiwan, which is producing a large purple fruit that arrives with a smooth skin and is far superior in quality. City'super stock both.

In addition to the more common species, when in South America, Australia and New Zealand look for the Curuba, or Banana Passionfruit (Aus, NZ). It has a slightly elongated shape, soft yellow skin and hints of banana on the palate, and is considered to be of high quality.

Ripe fruit can be stored in the fridge while unripe fruit will ripen in a couple of days at room temperature.

PurplePassionfruit

It is one fruit (both pulp and juice) that freezes well and is great for flavoured ice cubes. It is available canned but with the addition of sugar is an inferior product to fresh.

The Oxford Companion to Food says of the passion fruit. "There is so much perfume and so little pulp that you can think of it as you would vanilla or Cognac, or a spoon of dense, raspberry puree - something to aromatise a dish." It takes more than 100 fruit to make one litre of juice.

In Australia and New Zealand it is a quintessential ingredient in Pavlova and in South America a popular dessert is passion fruit mousse. My favourite ways to enjoy it are to cut it in half and eat with a spoon or poured over vanilla ice cream or plain yoghurt. It is also a great finishing to a rich chocolate dessert.