Pasionaria / Passion Fruit
Amazing what a catchy name will do for your popularity. Naïve that I am sometimes, I thought the name “Passion Fruit” was coined because the fruit ignited one’s libido or 
acted as some sort of aphrodisiac, or if I were to make a more graphic definition, that the texture, consistency and look of the pulp and seeds would react with one’s gonads in the same manner that raw oysters are supposed to have a similar effect… But my trusty reference books suggest otherwise, and I was nearly floored to read that the fruit seems to get its name from quite an opposite source to the whole “fired loins theory”… It seems, according to Alan Davidson in the Oxford Companion to Food, that the flower of this fruit is known as flor de las cinco lagas or “flower of the five wounds” and missionaries in South Ameirca used this to illustrate the cruxifiction of Christ and thus the Passion and from there… Passion Fruit! Yikes, talk about being way off the mark…
This vine (Passiflora edulis) is native to South America and Australia. It worked its way up to Southeast Asia and thrives in some parts of 
the Philippines. The fruits of this yellow orange variety are about the size of a small lemon and inside are several tablespoons of pulp and seed that have an unusual texture and a striking but subtle flavor. I have seen this used in desserts, juices, and eaten as is. We rarely ate this as kids and I always wonder what the big deal is when it is part of some fancy shmancy dessert like a Passion Fruit Panna Cotta or Cheesecake with Passion Fruit Sauce… I am sitting at my desk right now eating one as I type this and I am increasingly getting weirded out by the viscosity of the fruit. It doesn’t help that I just had to sneeze and filled my Kleenex with… I have just decided I like pomegranates far better (no, they are not the same thing) than passion fruit. Even though pomegranate in Spanish is Granada and passion fruit in Spanish are Granadillas or little pomegranates, they are not actually of the same family at all… I bought these passion fruit at the market last weekend for just PHP40 a kilo or about PHP5 each… Anyone have a good recipe for passion fruit jam or jelly?
it doesn’t look like the passion fruit i’m seeing here. here it’s all wrinkly and plum coloured, but the inside looks similar….mostly i’ve seen it used in pavlova and other dessert recipes….though i haven’t tried it myself :) …. yeah and like you i thought it to be an aphrodisiac, until now :)
November 29th, 2006Never tried making jam out of passionfruit but I had Banana Passionfruit Butter once. Kids liked it. I adapted the recipe out of an Australian cookbook few years ago. If I remember it right, there were few bananas, less than a cupful of passionfruit pulps, eggs, sugar, butter, lemon juice, orange juice and grated lemon rind.
November 29th, 2006the best passion fruit i’ve ever tasted are the ones brought by my cousin’s relatives from sagada, they have the sweetest kind…the ones here in the US are purplish in color and sour…
i do remember buying passion fruit from peddlers in general luna road, baguio city though (they said it’s from sagada or bontoc)…i do hope they’re still there when i go home next yr…
i like pomegranates too, my mom makes it with cut apples, grapes, bananas, berries, orange juice, sugar and fruit chaat mix bought from the indian store…really yummy with a little kick from that spice mix..
November 30th, 2006To utilize the passion fruit to jelly/jam is a laborious task. I had seen my neighbor done one from scratch. She had to scoop out the pulp with a spoon, boil it with some water let cool and then pass it through some sieve not fine ones small enough to catch the seeds and mashing the seeds off their flesh. Sugar and lemon juice is added to the extracted potion before hitting the stove. I, for one, get my passion fruit puree from the frozen section of the grocery. I am a 1-2-3 person. I use it in my pastry cream for cheesecake topping, cake and profiteroles fillings for extra kick.
From what I read pomegranates contain a lot of antioxidants. I eat them a lot including the seeds for their antioxidant power. Flashback when I was a kid, we use to throw them up in the air and when they hit the ground voila just like the name - like exploding grenades without the noise. The famous Grenadine syrup is made out of pomegranates. To make a generic version of grenadine syrup simply boil equal parts of pomegranates including their seeds and sugar and two parts water.
November 30th, 2006i have a big passion fruit vine in the backyard and it has made a trellis out of my two durian trees there. the fruits fall to the ground, and we halve them and scoop out the seeds and plunk them in water in big plastic pitchers with lids. add some honey or syrup or plain sugar, then let the whole thing stay in the fridge for an hour or so to let the flavors come out. give the tumbler a good shake, strain everything over ice (finely shaved is best, but cubes will do)..perfect cooler! the flavor and aroma are an interesting mix of citrus, pineapple, apple and mango…basta tropical!
November 30th, 2006Our passionfruit here has a more plummy colour.But I guess the taste would be the same.
Remember MM the pavlovas here in Australia?
November 30th, 2006You’d be crazy to make jams and jellies from scratch. Too time consuming and wasteful especially at that price.
Has anyone tried Kablon Farm’s passion fruit range?
November 30th, 2006I only get the purple variety here, it’s a hit or miss, sometimes I get those really nice subtle sweet ones, sometimes I get the sour ones.
November 30th, 2006My mom had a vine growing in the backyard for a while, it was the yellow one, it eventually died but was able to enjoy the fruits before it did. And I’m going to be smug about it and say that mom knew and told us the reason why it is called Passion Fruit. LOL. :O)
if millety can make some juice from it, maybe next step could prolly be sorbet? they make a pretty good version at Circles
November 30th, 2006Full of Grace, an cooperative, has awesome local organic jellies and juices available for sale (made with mascobado sugar!) They have jam made of passionfruit and guava juice, which is absolutely delicious. They also have jam made of “forest grapes”, which are indigenous berries. Great too.
They have passionfruit and passionfruit-mango juices.
You can get them at Landmark’s organic section. When you buy their products, you support indigenous communities as well!
December 1st, 2006My mother makes a yummy juce concentrate from passion fruit. I’ll get you the recipe.
December 2nd, 2006Anupama, thank you, that is so kind of you… will look forward to it…
December 2nd, 2006MM, I don’t have recipe for jam or jellies. But passion fruit is really nice with pavlova. I make the passion fruit sauce to go on top of the pavlova slices.
December 2nd, 2006Cut some strawberries, bananas, kiwi and any other fruits that you might like to top the pavlova with. Mix passion fruit with really good thick cream, add a bit of amarula or baileys. Pour the sauce on top of the pav slices. Viola! easy dessert.
Don’t they call passion fruit in any other name back home or in the US?
December 2nd, 2006Looks like the ones you had is of a diff variety that we have here down under or that it might not be ripe? Normally the insides would be more yellow when ripe and that the skin becomes burgundy in colour.
December 2nd, 2006Zita, there are two main varieties, a more orangey-yellow one like that photgraphed here and a deeper red/purple version…yes, I think the passion for passion fruit stems from better specimens than the one I had…
December 2nd, 2006“Don’t they call passion fruit in any other name back home or in the US?” -in Bicol we call it orange as in orange! Another childhood favorite!
December 4th, 2006I planted passion fruit today… I think. My aunt had given me some dried passion fruits and my fiance told me just to plant the whole dried fruit—so I did. I thought that I should have opened them first to extract the seeds. I’ve been searching the internet but found nothing so precise. Perhaps I should have done both, just to see who was right..
February 19th, 2007yup this is the same type of passionfruit that i find here in Indonesia too. juicy, clear pulp but the seeds get in the way sometimes hehe so i tend to crunch on the seeds as the taste is ok to the palate.
March 1st, 2007Its a very nice fruit,naturally tasty and may be medicinal as no added flavours.We have grown the tree and have obtained yellow -orange friuts.We use it as juice.But would like to know more info about the same.
September 10th, 2007September 10,2007.
My sis in law gave me passion fruit juice concentrate and my kids love it! I want to buy the fruit itself and make fresh juice out of it for my kids. Where can i buy this fruit here in Manila?
December 15th, 2007astrid, passion fruit is sometimes available in wet markets such as FArmer’s Market or FTI Taguig…it tends to be available around this time of year…
December 15th, 2007here in north cotabato… new generations of farmers are planting passion fruit right now… i believe its more than 50,000 seedlings are planted. still more farmers are planning to plant passion fruit… so any bznizman around her planning to invest in passion fruit?
March 14th, 2008here in lantapan is processing plant for market to japan.
April 9th, 2008