# Do you know what passionfruit tastes like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984 "2015-09-20T18:03:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/21 "2015-09-21T07:19:33Z")
Grew up in New Zealand and our neighbours had a passionfruit vine grown along their garden wall. We used to stuff our faces with it. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/22 "2015-09-21T08:20:35Z")
It grows like a week where I live (Sydney, Australia). It wouldn’t occur to me to pay money for passionfruit, since the vines are so prolific and easy to grow. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/23 "2015-09-21T10:29:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > FWIW, they have lychee juice at supermarkets here in Toronto (Canada). Never looked for the actual nuts (fruit?) myself, though. They’re relatively common in Toronto neighbourhoods with a large Chinese minority (of which there are plenty), but they’re seasonal. I’ve rarely seen passionfruit on sale in Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/24 "2015-09-21T11:42:16Z")
I picked it off the vine and ate it in Napier, New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/25 "2015-09-21T14:30:07Z")
We get both yellow and purple varieties, they are called “grenadilla” here, especially when fresh fruit or pulp (which you can buy in cans, it’s a popular cake topping). The juice gets called passionfruit more and more, nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/26 "2015-09-22T02:31:02Z")
“I live in the US and I have tasted fresh passionfruit, straight from the fruit” It tastes like fucking awesome! I think I’ve seen it in the US exactly two times.:mad: Almost all of my passionfruit experiences have been in foreign places (mostly Costa Rica, Panama, and Peru but also in Amsterdam). I’m really obsessed with the related [_Passiflora ligularis_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora_ligularis) species (it is named granadilla rather than maracuya in Spanish). It’s so delightful, but it seems to be available only after a minimum 6-hour airplane ride from here. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/27 "2015-09-22T03:47:08Z")
I’m generally unacquainted with passion _or_ fruit, and I admit the possibility that these are related somehow. [_eats another Hot Pocket_] ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/28 "2015-09-22T14:02:14Z")
It’s weird–we used to be able to get them in Colorado all the time. Then a few years back, they disappeared. They reappeared this year. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/29 "2015-09-22T15:42:45Z")
We done passionfruit!: [Monty Python - Self-Defense Against Fruit - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piWCBOsJr-w) ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/30 "2015-09-22T17:10:25Z")
I have seldom if ever seen them here in Silicon Valley, though I’d probably find them in Vietnamese or Thai grocery stores if I looked. But I did find a lot in Hawaii, where they’re called “lilikoi”. I bought the yellow ones fresh, strained the pulp from the seeds, and mixed it with oil, vinegar, sugar and salt and made a brilliant salad dressing from it. I drizzled it over shredded cabbage and green onions and made a tropical slaw. Yum. If I had to describe the flavor, I’d say it was a cross between ripe peach and ruby grapefruit, with a little guava thrown in. I wish I could find it around here. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/31 "2015-09-22T23:22:37Z")
There are about 400 species in the genus _Passiflora_, but [only a few varieties](http://www.agridept.gov.lk/index.php/en/crop-recommendations/1099) are widely exploited commercially. _“In most countries passion fruit production is based on caltivars of the golden passion fruit (p.edulis f. flavicarpa). The major exceptions are South Africa, Kenya and New New Zealand where production is dependent on lines of the purple passion fruit (P.edulis) and in Australia where hybrids between the two forms are exploited.”_ Where they’re adapted, the vines of some types are invasive (in Texas I had one whose shoots ran under sidewalks to emerge in unexpected places). ---
**Author:** ![ruellesmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@ruellesmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruellesmith)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/32 "2015-09-22T23:43:24Z")
I dont like the gelatinous–looking-glop look it has but the taste is so delicious! I love it more when the skin is smooth and plump. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/33 "2015-09-23T01:05:33Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > It grows like a week where I live (Sydney, Australia). It wouldn’t occur to me to pay money for passionfruit, since the vines are so prolific and easy to grow. We had a large vine at my parents place (Canberra) when I was growing up. Collecting passionfruit each day was one of our jobs. We had enough some years that we would fill ice-cube trays with the pulp and seeds and have passionfruit ice blocks. Not kidding about them being like weeds, I planted one at my place about 10 years ago. Never gave me any fruit and has been impossible to kill off completely. The damn thing is like bamboo! Each year in summer there will be a vine pop up out of the ground somewhere in that patch of the garden and climb the fence. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984/34 "2015-09-23T01:10:00Z")
No, but I **did** find Dragon Fruit/Pitaya in my grocery store once and tried it. I didn’t really like it that much, but that’s probably the most “uncommon” fruit I’ve tried. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-passionfruit-tastes-like/731984.md?page=1)