Have you ever worked with passion fruit? I will tell you all you need to know.
If you have been watching “The Great British Baking Show” as much as I have, you’ve probably noticed that the contestants frequently bake with passion fruit. I have been astonished by how often passion fruit nectar or curd works its way into the cakes and desserts in the iconic white tent when you almost never see passion fruits or passion fruit desserts here in the States.
But we are clearly missing out. Passion fruit has a distinctive, tropical, sweet-tart flavor that is intoxicating. I remember trying passion fruit sorbet in Paris as a young girl and loving this flavor that I knew I had never had before. Since then, I have sought out passion fruit-flavored desserts at restaurants, but I never actually worked with passion fruit myself. It seemed like something only pastry chefs could get their hands on.
But seeing all those GBBS contestants whipping up passion fruit this and that inspired me. So home cooks can work with passion fruit? In fact, one can find frozen passion fruit puree or bottled passion fruit nectar in stores. But sometimes, if you are lucky, you will find passion fruits themselves. I have actually seen them randomly at Whole Foods – I suspect you might have even better luck at a Latin market.
Recently, my mother brought me some passion fruits that she had purchased at the farmers market in Naples, Florida, where she lives in the winter. What a find! I was so excited to work with them, but first, I realized, I had no idea how to tell when they were ripe. I did some research and learned that I had to let my passion fruit get nice and wrinkly before using them.
After a few days on the counter, my passion fruit were ready to use! I cut them in half – a serrated knife makes this easier – and scooped out the flesh, seeds and juice. I think I had six or seven passion fruit and they yielded maybe 1/2 cup of pulp that I could actually work with. (If you can find passion fruit, buy a lot of them.)
I decided to make a passion fruit curd to showcase the flavor of the fruit. The resulting tiny jar is a treasure. As you can see, it has a sunny yellow color, just like lemon curd, but the flavor is extraordinary. The sugar, egg yolks and butter round out the flavor of the passion fruit and make it taste sweet and tropical and luxurious. I just want to savor every last spoonful.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup passion fruit pulp (with seeds and juice)
- 3 oz. unsalted butter at room temperature.
Instructions
- Combine sugar and egg yolks in a small saucepan and whisk until lightened in color.
- Add passion fruit pulp and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened, about ten minutes. Do not allow mixture to boil and lower the heat as necessary.
- Remove from heat and strain mixture into a heat-proof glass bowl. Do not use a very fine-mesh sieve, but a nomal sieve. (You are trying to strain out seeds and any bits of scrambled egg but not passion fruit pulp.)
- Stir softened butter into strained mixture allowing the residual heat of the curd to melt butter. (If the curd has cooled down too much to melt butter, you can microwave it on low setting for short bursts until butter melts.)
- Pour curd into a clean jar and refrigerate until needed. Will last up to two weeks.
So interesting. Would love to see a post on how you got the pulp out.