Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) is a tropical fruit belonging to the family of Passifloraceae. Native to southern Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina, passion fruit has been widely used to treat anxiety, insomnia, asthma, bronchitis, and urinary tract infections. Today, passion fruit is grown in many different tropical and subtropical countries throughout the world. Within the United States passion fruit are primarily grown in Florida and California. There are several cultivars of this fruit: purple passion fruit (P. edulis Sims), granadilla (Passiflora ligularis), gulupa (P. edulis Sims. fo edulis), and yellow passion fruit (P. edulis var. flavicarpa Degenerer).
The passion fruit is a pepo, a type of berry, round to oval, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous edible seeds. Its common names also include passionfruit (English), maracujá (Portuguese) maracuyá or parcha (Spanish), grenadille or fruit de la passion (French) or lilikoʻi (Hawaiian) and mburukuja (Guaraní). Passion fruit is a super-food that is loaded with Vitamins A and C, antioxidants, iron, potassium, magnesium, riboflavin and niacin. It is often used in the process of making other foods and drinks, such as candy, ice cream, syrups, jellies, and a variety of blended juice beverages.
Passion fruit grows well in Florida and can go from seed to a mature plant in as little as a year. It grows rapidly on shallow rooted vines, and one vine can produce over 200 fruits for an average of seven years. The pulpy flesh of passion fruits is full of small, dark edible seeds; with the wrinkled skin indicating the sweetest flavors. Several varieties of passion fruit are generally purple or yellow. The purple variety, purple granadilla, is smaller and juicier, but the yellow variety is more widely cultivated commercially.
Passion fruit vines are prolific once they reach maturity; the vines can climb to the very tops of trees before fruiting and because of this they must be trellised in an average garden. A mature vine can produce more than 200 fruit per season. Depending upon the variety, when the passion fruit is ripe it will change from green to orange, dark purple, red or yellow. The edible seeds and pulp of passion fruit juice can be described as both sweet and acidic with a strong fruity flavor.