Passionfruit Sauce – The French Alternative

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Passionfruit Sauce – The French Alternative

 

Throughout history people have regarded different kinds of fruit as aphrodisiacs. The most obvious example is the apple, and the part it played in Adam and Eve’s hasty departure from the Garden of Eden! However, passionfruit has never had those connotations, which is surprising considering its name. Passionfruit was named by missionaries in South America, who apparently used the flowers as teaching aids to symbolise Christ’s passion and crucifixion.

There are hundreds of species of passionfruit. They are mostly native to South America, and are evergreen or semi-evergreen vines grown for their ornamental flowers or pulpy fruit.

The purple passionfruit (Passiflora edulis) and particularly the cultivar ‘Nellie Kelly’ is very popular in frost-free areas of Australia. It has purple and white flowers and glossy green leaves.

The banana passionfruit (Passiflora mollisima) is more suited to cooler areas. It has pink flowers and long yellow fruit.

Uses

Both purple and banana passionfruit can be used in fruit salads or on top of sweet whipped cream in pavlovas. You could also try Jackie French’s recipe for a wonderful passionfruit sauce. Serve it as a topping for ice-cream, or add it to milk for a delicious passionfruit milkshake.

Passionfruit Sauce

Ingredients
1 cup water
2 cups white sugar
1 cup passionfruit pulp
juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon tartaric acid

Method
1. Put the water and sugar into a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes.
2. Add the passionfruit pulp, lemon juice and tartaric acid. Boil for another three minutes then take off the heat.
3. Strain out the seeds and pulp, and pour the mixture into a clean bottle.
4. Keep the bottle of sauce in the refrigerator, and use it within a month.