Ingredient Showcase: Passion Fruit
With this week’s ingredient showcase we’re going to delve into a fruit that is important to many different cultures around the world. For our purposes, though, the Passion fruit is an excellent source of energy for your daily workout routine, dense with important vitamins and micronutrients.
The Passion Fruit is a berry that grows on a vine that usually produces only one flower. The fruit that is grown from the flower is fleshy and spherical, and is filled with hundreds of black seeds. The Golden Passion fruit can grow to the size of a melon, while the dark purple edulis is as small as a lemon. There are several variants of passion fruit, ranging from yellow in color to deep purple. The flavor profile of the fruit can also be varied, falling between somewhat acidic and sour to musky and sweet.
The Passion Fruit, or Passiflora edulis, was first described by Spanish missionaries in Brazil at the beginning of the 18th century. By the end of the 1800s it had spread throughout the rest of the world. Although widespread, passion fruit has served a rather singular purpose as a dessert or juice.
Passion Fruit is cultivated in the tropics and semitropical zones from Australia to Brazil, India to Hawaii. In the Dominican Republic as well as Indonesia and many other countries, the Passion Fruit is used in syrup, preserves and juice. In other countries, such Portugal and South Africa it is made into liqueur, and in places such as East Africa it is eaten as a whole fruit.
Nutritionally, Passion Fruit is an exceptional source for vitamins and micronutrients. Passion Fruit can contain as much as 11% of the daily value of niacin, 12% of iron, 36% of Vitamin C, and even 42% of dietary fiber! This makes it an all-around power house for workouts. And it also tastes great! For more on Passion Fruit and its health benefits, read this article.
