Passion fruit is native from Brazil to Argentina, including Paraguay. This fruit’s name, ‘passion’, derives from its flower, passion flower. The early Spanish explorers named it as they found the huge flowers resembled the crown of thorns, worn during the passion of Christ.
This fruit usually comes in either purple or yellow, with a smooth and glossy rind. You may wish to view the yellow variety here. There are other colors too due to the hybrids between the two varieties. Passion fruit is either oval or round, about the size of a tennis ball, though some can be bigger or smaller than that. The purple variety is usually slightly smaller than its yellow counterpart.
Just cut the fruit into half and scoop it with a spoon. Inside the thick rubbery rind, it contains a mess of yellowish-orange, jelly-lookalike pulp encircling numerous black seeds. The seeds are edible and crunchy.
The taste is sweet and tart but it is the unique aroma that gives this fruit, the flavor. The purple variety, is usually slightly less acidic than its yellow cousin. It makes a good choice to mix with other fruit juices to enhance the taste. When it is ripe, it will start to wrinkle and that is the best time to eat it. It will be less tart but sweeter.
The one shown above is the purple variety but the color may range from red to dark purple. It is one of my favorite fruits. Do you have that passion?