A different way to use passion fruit – read on….
When we were setting up our terrace kitchen garden 4 years ago, I was insistent on having a passion flower climber to grow around the railings. The way the graceful leaves hang over the deck and produce those stunningly showy red passion flowers, was what I had in mind.
After some months, the saplings were procured and planted. It took a while to take off and then it started producing a few flowers. To my surprise, they were not red, as I had imagined they would be.
This was another variety and the flowers were white and purple, and the same stunning construct. Surely this made a few others very happy – the bees, the birds and the butterflies in the garden.
The arrangement of the passion flower, called ‘Espina de Cristo’ (Christ’s thorns) by Spanish missionaries who discovered the flower, has been said to have a sacred symbolism in Christianity.
Back to the garden tale, the climber then started fruiting. Given that passionfruits are sold nearly at the price of gold in the local supermarkets, I was super excited to have a free supply going at home. This variety possessed eye-scrunching tartness, so we waited patiently for the fruit to ripen and fall off. It would also sit in the fruit basket for a few more days, until I dared to cut it open.
The common use in South India, where it grows as a part of the kitchen garden in homes, is to make a ‘sherbet’ by adding lots of sugar to make up for the tartness and dilute with water. I did try that and I wasn’t a big fan of this ‘sarbat’. I also was way to busy to have the patience to bake a pavlova, on which passionfruit goes best as a topping.
Besides regularly distributing it to friends who will have it, I started adding it to my salads – the easiest, fuss-free way to put them to use! Since all salad dressings need to have a sour component, whisking in some of the passionfruit pulp instead of a vinegar or lemon juice, imparts a lovely fruity flavour to the dressing. Here’s the recipe for a mixed vegetable and fruit salad using a passionfruit dressing.
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
serving
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- 1 cucumber medium size
- 2 pears
- 1 apple small
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup mixed salad greens
- 1/4 cup cranberries dried
- handful almonds toasted
- edible flowers for garnish
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon zest of
- 1 tablespoon passion fruit pulp
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper crushed
Ingredients
for dressing:
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- To prepare the dressing, place all the ingredients in a small jug and using a whisk or battery operated coffee frother, whisk until thick and creamy. Keep aside.
- Peel, halve and deseed the cucumber. Chop into juliennes.
- Peel, core and slice the apple and pear.
- Halve the cherry tomatoes.
- Wash the salad greens 2-3 times in changes of water, pat dry or dry in a salad spinner.
- Take a large bowl. Tear the greens into bite sized pieces and add to the bowl, with the cucumber, apple, pear, cherry tomatoes and cranberries.
- Add the dressing and toss gently until well coated.
- Top with toasted almonds. Garnish with edible flowers, if you happen to have access to them and serve immediately. I have garnished with dill flowers here 🙂
A salad needs to have a riot of colours, and an array of textures to keep it from being just another boring salad and this salad brings to you all that and more. The passionfruit adds a burst of freshness and flavour to this salad, and since it is quite tart, less is more. No passionfruit? Then try this dressing with crushed ripe kiwi fruit instead.
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