Passion Fruit Sauce

mayurisjikoni

8 years ago

EVENT: BLOGGING MARATHON #89 WEEK 3 DAY 3

THEME: CONDIMENTS ON THE SIDE

Another passion fruit condiment you may think and no I didn’t get a sackful of passion fruit. I made this sauce to take for my son. As you read along, you’ll get to know how versatile this sauce is.

Passion fruit, passionfruit, grenadille as the the fruit is called, grows on vines. The fruit can be yellow or dark purple. The pulp will be either light yellow to dark orange. There are two main types of passion fruits, the sour and tangy ones or the sweet ones. The pulp of the sweet ones is usually light grey in colour.

Kenya grows all three varieties of passion fruit in abundance. While modern chefs in Kenya make exotic dishes using passion fruit right from desserts to sauces, mostly all Kenyans love their glass of cold refreshing passion fruit juice or passion juice as its called. Ask any Kenyan Gujarati and they’ll have at some time in their lives enjoyed passion fruit mixed with chevdo.

I remember when I was young, my grandfather had grown a huge vine of passion fruit. They have the most prettiest flowers and the tangy fruit itself is very aromatic. My grandmother would not want us to pick the fruit before it was ready and so to keep us away from the vine, she would tell us that those pretty flowers attract snakes. Boy did we keep a very very long distance from the vine!

Why is passion fruit good for you?

Its rich in Vitamin C and therefore very good to build up ones immunity
Its a rich source of antioxidants and anti inflammation compounds which help to fight cancer.
Its a rich source of Vitamin A and therefore very beneficial for healthy eyesight
Its good for the skin
a rich source of dietary fibers so its very good for digestion
a rich source of copper and iron, making it good for the blood and blood circulation
Helps to reduce bad cholesterol
Its a rich source of potassium, eating one passion fruit every day reduces blood pressure
It helps to improve bone health as its rich in phosphorus, copper, iron,magnesium
Passion fruit has a medicinal alkaloid called harman which functions like a sedative. It helps to reduce restlessness, insomnia and nervous anxiety. It is recommended to have one passion fruit before going to bed.

During the passion fruit season I process the pulp in a blender, in short bursts so that the seeds gets separated from the pulp. I then strain the mixture and mix the passion fruit juice with sugar. Mix it well and keep in the freezer. Add about a tbsp or two of the syrup with water and a fresh juice is ready in no time. Or I sometimes mix the juice with other fruits to make a healthy home made juice. Mixing it with other naturally sweet fruits means I need less sugar to add to the juice.

Passion fruit sauce comes in very handy when one wants to make a cool refreshing drink in a jiffy or serve it on top of some vanilla ice cream, or serve it with pancakes, add it to cakes and muffins. How about adding some passion fruit sauce to a salsa? Have you tried a panna cotta with passion fruit sauce? How about a delicious mango passion fruit paleta? A passion fruit mojito, a margarita or any other cocktail, sounds delicious. A passion fruit dressing is superb for a tropical salad.

This time I simmered the juice with some sugar as I didn’t want it to get spoilt. Many Kenyan students, kids who live abroad take a bottle of the passion fruit sauce to remind them of home.

PASSION FRUIT SAUCE

Makes about 1½ cups

2 cups of passion fruit pulp

¾ cup sugar

a pinch of salt

Put the pulp into a blender jug.
Process it gently in short bursts for a few seconds.
You will see that the pulp will come off the seeds.
Strain the mixture using a sieve or strainer.
Save about a tablespoon of seeds if you want to add some to the sauce.
Mix the sugar and juice in a thick bottom pan.
Put the pan on medium heat.
Mix till the sugar melts and the mixture begins to boil.
Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes.
The liquid will become a bit thick.
Add the saved seeds to the sauce and mix well.
Let the sauce cool down a bit and then pour it into a jar to store.
I prefer to store the sauce in the fridge as the climate here is too humid.
Use the sauce to make some juice, add it to cakes and muffins, serve it with desserts, like ice creams, panna cotta. Serve it with pancakes. The uses of the sauce are endless.

Tips:

Passion fruits are ready when the skin is all wrinkled. This way you’ll get maximum amount of liquid out of it.
The yellow ones tend to be less tangy then the purple ones.
The sweet passion fruit with the grey pulp is usually not used to be make any condiments. Its enjoyed as a fruit.
If you don’t want to cook the sauce then mix the sugar and passion fruit juice. Mix it well and store in the freezer. It does not need to be thawed as you can spoon it out easily.
Cooking the passion fruit with sugar changes the colour but when added to any other dish it appears golden yellow.

Pin for Later: