Updated on April 9th, 2023
Passion fruit is one of the many popular tropical fruits used globally, known for its sweetness, beauty, and bright color; it is used in recipes ranging from popular passion fruit juice to pastries and even ice creams.
This tropical fruit is not only sweet to the taste buds but is also beautiful to look at when cut and arranged properly. Their recipes call for this sweet fruit in mojitos, cocktails, and wine. The passion fruit may be difficult to find in most areas, and the need for a substitute would be significant. Some of these substitutes will be discussed in this article, so the next time you run out, you could easily swap one of them for the passion fruit.
What is Passion Fruit?
Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) is a sweet-tasting tropical fruit native to Brazilians. It is perennial and is commercially cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas.
The passion fruit is a species of the passionflower, and it has two main types, the purple-colored fruit (Passiflora edulis f. edulis). It has a smaller size not up to a lemon’s size and is more popular and contains bright and juicy orange pulp with small dark seeds inside. It has a much stronger flavor and is less acidic. The second one is the yellow-colored fruit (Passiflora edulus f. flavicarpa), larger than the purple-colored fruit, almost guava. It has a less juicy pulp with brown seeds inside.
The passion fruit is versatile as it has culinary and medicinal uses. It is used differently in recipes worldwide, either diced, juiced or made into syrup. It is also used as a sedative and an aid for digestion.
Passion Fruit Uses in Recipes
Passion fruit has a sweet and glossy texture that fits well in many recipes; it is available in new and thinned versions added in fruit salads, desserts, cake toppings, etc. It is also available in Australia as a sweet-flavored drink called Passiona, often used in cocktails. In Hawaii, it is known as liliko’i and is scooped and eaten from raw fruit. Other recipes that passion fruit is added in include;
- Passion Fruit And Lemon Condensed Milk Slice
- Mango And Passion Fruit Swirl Smoothie Bowl
- Pavlova Grazing Platter With Easy Passion Fruit Curd
- Pina Colada Ice-Cream Cake
- Easy Lemon And Passion Fruit Meringue Pots
- Passion Fruit Sour Cream Slice
- Passion Fruit Cheesecake Ripple Wreath
- Lean Brekkie Smoothie
- Mini Passion Fruit Condensed Milk Tart
- Lemon And Passion Fruit Ice-Cream Cake
- Easy Passion Fruit Skin Jam
- Passion Fruit Custard Cake
- Passion Fruit Coconut Slice
- Tropical Jelly Slice
- Coconut, Banana And Raspberry Mille-Feuille
Passion Fruit Substitutes
Passion fruit is popular in the culinary field as an ingredient in sweet-tasting dishes; it is consumed or prepared differently in many recipes worldwide. Passion fruit is only good at introducing sweet flavor notes in recipes but is also beneficial to health; it is an antioxidant that helps prevent tumors, heart illness, and hypertension. It is also able to transform to vitamin A in the liver. This tropical fruit has become popular, making the demand high and the availability scarce in some countries. Luckily, there are some ingredient and fruits that have similar flavors like passion fruit which are easily accessible and would work in recipes that calls for passion fruit, some of them include;
1. Pineapple
The best substitute for passion fruit would be tropical fruits with the same flavor notes, and the pineapples are the closest fruits with the same flavor as the passion fruit. It is a sweet and juicy, strong-skinned fruit with bright yellow inside. Pineapples have a different look from passion fruit, but its flavor would work in the same recipes the passion fruit is used In.
Pineapples are cheap and easy to find in stores. When substituting pineapple for passion fruit, the exact measurement needed for passion fruit in any recipe can be used for pineapple.
2. Passion Fruit Derivatives
This alternative is the next best thing for passion fruit lovers, it is not a fresh alternative, but it has the same flavor notes and would blend easily in recipes, especially those that call for the passion fruit syrup. They can be found in passion fruit jams, puree, syrup, passion fruit preserve, or any ingredient made out of passion fruit.
You could also choose to thin with a blender and sweeten it if you want a less thick texture or make it into a diced thick jello if you need to decorate your meal. A ratio of 1:1 can be applied when substituting this ingredient for the passion fruit.
3. Mango
Mangoes are also a sweet-tasting alternative for passion fruit; it is easily available in different textures, whether fresh, canned, pureed, or as jams. Mangoes would work in any recipe, just like the passion fruit. For a more tart taste, you can add lemon to it. If you wouldn’t mind the mango taste, the exact measurements for passion fruit can be used for mangoes in recipes.
4. Peaches
Peaches are also part of the sweet-tasting fruit popularly available. It can be pureed, canned, fresh, in jellies or jams. It has almost the same texture and flavor but is different from the passion fruit. Peaches can be mixed with nectarines for a close flavor to passion fruit.
Peaches can be used in recipes just like the passion fruit in the same quantity required from the passion fruit.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How would you know when the passion fruit is fully ripe?
When the passion fruit is fully aged and ripe, it will wrinkle on the body. It becomes sweeter when it gets to this stage and can be eaten raw.
What is passion fruit seed used for?
The seeds can be eaten raw and pressed into oil for other uses, whether culinary or non-culinary.
How do you extract the pulp from passion fruit?
You’ll start by cutting the passion fruit in half, then use a spoon to scoop out the pulp from the skin into a bowl. After this, the bowl containing the pulp should be mildly heated to get a bit of a light texture and sieved when cool to collect the pulp.
Conclusion
Passion fruit is a unique sweet-tasting tropical fruit consumed in different recipes worldwide. In situations where you run out of this ingredient, there are recipes that the cook can use in its place. They may not bring the exact flavor of passion fruit, but they would still add sweet notes to your recipe.
