What Is Passion Fruit?

With its jiggly texture, bright color, and bead-like seeds, the passion fruit is something of an enigma to many people. While incredibly interesting to look at, this fruit is chock-full of large seeds that can be rather confusing to the unfamiliar buyer.

Looks aside, this tropical fruit is loved around the world for its pungently aromatic and refreshing qualities that pair exceedingly well with a whole mess of things from drinks to breakfast to dessert. Eating it is even considered romantic in some cultures.

If you're curious about this sometimes-confounding fruit, here's everything you need to know.

What Is Passion Fruit?

Passion fruit is a warm-weather fruit native to subtropical regions of South America. It grows on a vine called passiflora edulis, the vine of the passionflower.

Unsurprisingly, it is eaten and used in cooking throughout South America and though it is native to northern Argentina, Paragulay, and southern Brazil, it's exported worldwide.

Today, passion fruit is also grown in Australia, California, Florida, New Zealand, and Hawaii, and depending on the location, it could be available year-round. For example, California passion fruits are only available January through November while Hawaii has them all year.

There are a few varieties of passion fruit, but two are the most commercially available – yellow and purple (or red). The round fruit comes in all sizes, from roughly the size of a plum to the size of a grapefruit. It's fascinating to look at, with its dark, often bumpy skin that transforms from taught and shiny to dull, shrunken and wrinkly when ripe. But once cut, a bright yellow, polka dotted interior is revealed, featuring a gelatinous, seed-filled pulp.

What Does Passion Fruit Taste Like?

Passion fruit can be portrayed as merely sweet, but it's quite tart when it's fresh. This combination of sweet and sour is what makes it so interesting. The flavor is described as citrusy with hints of melon, pineapple, or kiwi. As the fruit ripens, it increases in sweetness, but more importantly, complexity. Once over-ripe, it will even taste a bit fermented.

The entire interior of a passion fruit is edible. The white pith is spongy and a bit cotton-like but also a bit bitter, so many opt not to eat it, though it's perfectly fine to do so. The seeds are tart and crunchy, though not difficultly so, providing an amazing textural juxtaposition to the jiggly pulp.

How to Tell If Passion Fruit Is Ripe

There are two distinct markers of ripeness with the passion fruit: color and texture.

When unripe, the color of the skin is green — it will gain its hue, likely yellow, red, or dark purple, depending on the variety.

The texture of the skin is hard and smooth on an unripe fruit, and becomes soft and crumpled with maturity. You'll know the passion fruit has reached its full potential and is harboring maximum flavor and sweetness when the skin is wrinkled. Conveniently, the process of transitioning from unripe to ripe only takes a few days.

How to Use Passion Fruit

Before you use a passion fruit, the best practice is to wash the fruit. Even though you don't eat the skin, you're still going to cut it, and you don't want to bring anything that might be on the fruit into its interior with the knife. Using a serrated knife to cut it is another good idea since the flesh is soft, and this will help you not squish the fruit.

The simplest way to enjoy a passion fruit is to use a spoon to scoop the fruit right out of each half directly into your mouth, seeds and all. Beyond that, it works in tons of recipes, including drinks, breakfast, snacks, and desserts. Often, the seeds will be strained out to be used in cooking or baking. It's a personal( and textural) judgment call.

To use the pulp in recipes, heat it either in the microwave or on the stovetop to turn the pulp into more of a liquid and make it easier for you to strain it. Removing the seeds by straining tends to be better for utilizing the passion fruit while cooking or baking, but in the end, it's up to you.

Make passion fruit juice by pureeing everything scooped out of the skin - pulp, seeds, everything - with water and a bit of sugar. Then strain the mixture to remove seed particles and pith – they're both edible, but chunky juice isn't the most palatable. This juice is excellent in smoothies or a cocktail like a mojito or margarita.

Make a passion fruit curd to spread over scones, English muffins, or toast, top pavlovas or meringues, dollop on breakfast goods like pancakes or waffles, or use as a filling in a cake or pie.

How to Store Passion Fruit

You can store whole, uncut and ripe passion fruit in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. If you may not get to the passion fruit in time, scoop out the pulp and freeze it, sealed in a zip-top bag or other freezer-friendly container, for up to 3 months.