Passion Fruit : A lesser known tropical fruit

Summer vacation is on, the sun is shining overhead and the children have declared they are going to make this vacation a memorable one. Everybody is out there on the playground with their cricketing gear chasing the passionate dream of emulating Sachin Tendulkar and nothing is going to stop them from achieving it this summer, not even the scorching sun.
Passion fruit vine

 While dad feels proud seeing his kid shaping in right direction, mom is getting tense for the fear that her child may get dehydrated. She did add a bottle full of nourishing drink fortified with glucose, vitamins and essential salts to the kit bag, but her Sachin in the making seldom drinks it because he does not like the same drink everyday. Though he enjoys playing cricket everyday, but would not gulp the same drink daily. At the end of the day her child returns home all exhausted. A refreshing drink would charge him up, but how could mom find a new drink every day! If this is the case with your kid, the answer lies in trying the lesser known passion fruit drink. Its nourishing and kids will like its unique aroma and tangy taste.
Flower of yellow passion fruit
The Passion Fruit vine is a shallow rooted, woody fast growing perennial climber grown in tropical and sub tropical regions. It has large three lobed leaves and little tendrils that wrap themselves around whatever they can get hold of. Fruit is nearly round or ovoid in shape, about the size of tennis ball or a little larger. It has a tough, smooth, shiny and waxy outer covering with greenish hue which turns light yellow/purple when ripe. The fruit cavity is double walled membranous sac containing aromatic orange-colored pulpy juice. It has as many as 250 small hard dark brown or black pitted seeds. The flavor is musky, guava-like and sweet to tart taste is unique and appealing.
The fruit appears amazingly shiny, round and tough
Of the estimated 500 species of passion fruit there are two distinct forms within the species; Purple (Passiflora edulis) and Yellow (Passiflora edulis flavicarpa) also known as golden or tropical passionfruit. Numerous hybrids have been made between the purple and the yellow varieties yielding colors and other characteristic intermediate between the two forms. In India, purple passion fruit had been grown in the Nilgiris in the south and in various parts of northern India. The yellow variety introduced from erstwhile Ceylon has fruits larger than the purple, but the pulp of the purple variety is less acidic, richer in aroma, flavor and has a higher proportion of juice. Passion fruit farming is popular among farmers of Karnataka.

 As far as our islands are concerned the yellow variety is ideally suited. Dr Deshbir Singh, Scientists from CARI introduced passion fruit to the farmers in the late 90’s. Saplings were distributed and farmers sensitised on the nitty gritty of growing the fruit and its benefits.

Incidentally my wife has been growing passion fruit for the last three years in the little space below the sunshade of our house. We had a good harvest last year. The harvest this year is just getting ready around this time and I am excited about it, as usual.

 To prepare a drink one need to cut the fruit in half lengthwise and scoop out the pulp with a spoon and squeeze through cheesecloth or press through a strainer to remove the seeds. The resulting rich juice concentrate can be taken with a little water or sweetened and diluted with other juices (orange or pineapple) for a change. Fresh passion fruit, apart from being aromatic and tangy in taste is high in beta carotene, potassium, dietary fiber and ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

The fruit is also known for its medicinal properties. Its leaves contain alkaloids including Harman which has blood pressure lowering, sedative and antispasmodic action. The flower having mild sedative is used in the treatment of nervousness, bronchial asthma, insomnia, nervous gastrointestinal disorders, menopausal problems.

The juice is recommended for people having high blood pressure. Researchers at the University of Florida had found carotenoids and polyphenols in yellow passion fruit can kill cancer cells. The wonder fruit however is yet to make it to our market shelves. Cultivation whatever little done is being practiced as a hobby!

The article was carried in The Daily Telegrams in its issue dated 15/05/2011

Comments

Anonymous said…
Good article. Is this fruit found in Andaman Islands.
May 16, 2011 at 4:37 AM
Debkumar Bhadra said…
Yes friend, passion fruit (Yellow variety) is available in Andamans. Infact the picture of the fruit in my article is from my house at Shore Point in South Andamans. The fruit is not much popular, the article intends to raise awareness so that some of the cultivators would take up passion fruit farming.
May 16, 2011 at 1:39 PM
Unknown said…
Does the fruit have a net like covering around it? I know a wild / naturally found fruit like this, which some of our Bengali settlers call as "Dudh panta" or something like that. We used to eat lot of those during childhood.
May 17, 2011 at 3:49 PM
Debkumar Bhadra said…
Dear Barun Kumar, the fruit havng a net like outer covering has characteristics such as flower and fruit somewhat similar to passiflora, but they are not passion fruit. Passionfruit is far more larger than "Dudh panta" and does not have any covering other than its smooth, waxy and tough rind, as seen in the picture.
May 17, 2011 at 7:31 PM
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