As a component of fruit juices, passion fruit has been at home in supermarkets in this country for decades. During the season, fresh passion fruits are also suitable as a fruity refreshment in between.
How do you recognize a ripe passion fruit?
A ripe passion fruit has a rich yellow hue, feels heavy and has a firm but not hard fruit body. Green passion fruits are unripe, while fruits that are too light are usually overripe and dried out.
The difference between passion fruit and passion fruit
The terms passion fruit and passion fruit are often used as synonyms, but this is not entirely true. The passion fruit, with its edible seeds and the sour pulp in between, also belongs to the genus of flowering passion flowers. However, passion fruit is a subspecies of passion fruit, also known as grenadilla. While juice packaging containing passion fruit often incorrectly depicts passion fruits as purple when ripe, ripe passion fruits are actually yellow to orange in color.
Origin and season for passion fruit
The passion fruit usually has a slightly more sour taste than the purple passion fruit. Fruits with the right degree of ripeness also taste very good freshly spooned out of the peel and not just as juice. Like the place of origin, the main growing areas for passion fruits are in tropical latitudes. In this country, the passion fruits in the supermarket usually come from the following countries:
- Mexico
- Venezuela
- Bolivia
- Ecuador
The sweet grenadilla is grown for regional consumption but also occasionally in tropical areas in Africa, Asia, Australia and on various Pacific islands. Due to the widely scattered growing areas, imported fruits are in season all year round in this country.
Assessing the degree of ripeness of a passion fruit correctly
In contrast to the purple passion fruits, ripe passion fruits cannot be recognized by the slight drying of the shell with dents and wrinkles. Passion fruits that are still green on the outside were usually harvested clearly unripe. Fully ripe passion fruits have a rich yellow color and feel rather heavy given their size. Passion fruits that are too light are generally already overripe and therefore rather dried out. Since the yellow passion fruits are somewhat firmer overall than their purple relatives, a firm fruiting body is not a sign of unripeness.
Tips & Tricks
If you want to grow the passion fruit yourself in the garden or on the windowsill, you must first clean the seeds of any pulp, otherwise they can easily become moldy.