Passion Fruit Juice

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand. ~Mother Teresa

 

We're so blessed to have a neighbor who sells local produce. Every Sunday, they go to the mountains of Tanay and Laguna area to find fresh and organic fruits and vegetables and I'm such a lucky bee to get these "natural treasures". My hubby encouraged me to buy fruits always. Instead of eating junk foods (like his favorite potato chips) or sweets (like my cupcakes and cookies, ahem!), fruits are great alternatives to satisfy our cravings. Also, we want to teach our children to eat "better" foods. I'm not saying that my baked goodies are not good, but I must admit, fresh and natural are always better!

I always buy fruits in season. Why? They taste great, fresh, and have the best quality at a lower cost. My favorite is lanzones (sorry, I don't have photos). Give me 1kg, and I'll eat it in one sitting. And just recently, I discovered my passion for passion fruit. Yeah, this is a tropical fruit but I just tasted it recently and you know what? I fell in love with it right away.

According to wikipedia, there are different varieties of passion fruit, one of this is purplish in color and the other one is yellowish. The one I have is the yellow kind. Ok,  what's the taste? It's tangy but sweet at the same time. This has the sweetest scent ever! Its smell overpowers the sourness of the pulp. It tastes like mango, guava, orange, four seasons Tang powdered juice, LOL! Hmm, confusing eh? But really, it tastes and smells good! 

I tried making juice out of it. They say ripe passion fruit have wrinkled and dimpled skin. In the picture below, both fruits are ripe, but the wrinkled passion fruit has more juice and sweeter than the smooth one.

I'm going to share with you how I make juice out of passion fruit. I used strainer and spoon because our blender is broken.

INGREDIENTS:
5 pcs passion fruits, cut in half 
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar (I used light brown sugar)
3/4 cup water
clean (mineral/distilled/purified) water to fill your bottle/container

THINGS YOU NEED:
strainer
spoon or fork
small bowl
container/bottle (500mL)

PROCEDURE:
1. Put the 3/4 cup of water in a small pan, add the sugar. Let it boil until all the sugar melt. Put in a bowl. Let it cool.

2. Scoop out the seeds of passion fruits and put in a strainer with bowl under it. Gently squish it with spoon or fork to release the juice. Also, take out big bits of pulps and put it in the bowl with juice.

3. Put the juice with pulp in a container or bottle. Add the syrup (sugar and water) and fill the container with water. Put in the refrigerator (I put in the freezer) and chill for couple of hours. Serve cold.

QUICK NOTES:
1. If you'll be using a blender, put the seeds/pulp in the blender. Whiz it for 2 seconds then strain. 
2. Use a sharp knife when cutting the fruit. Make a deep indentation with a knife and cut it at the spot where you made a hole.
3. You may combine it with other fruits like dalandan, orange, or mango. Do your own concoction!
3. Add more syrup if you find the juice sour. If you're asking if you can directly add sugar to the water, of course, you can. But I personally like to melt the sugar in boiling water. Because it takes time for the sugar to melt in water especially if it is cold. And sometimes you get fooled by the taste of the juice, it seems bland at first, so you'll be adding more sugar and when the sugar is completely melted, your juice becomes too sweet. 
4. For a healthier version, use honey to sweeten your juice.
5. You can consume it within a week. But it's better to consume it within the day.

Happy day always,

Rhea