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Environmental Nutrition: Get your passion (fruit) on!

By Lori Zanteson on

Environmental Nutrition

Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) is a type of berry that grows on a vine.

The folklore

It's been said that after eating passion fruit, you'll fall in love with the next person you see. Playful, or risqué as that may be, the historical passion behind this tropical Brazilian native is related to the passion of Christ, given by South American missionaries to educate converts. The passion fruit flower has five stamens, which represent the five wounds in the crucifixion of Christ. Its Latin genus name, Passiflora, means "passion" in English. Biblically symbolic, passion fruit's nutrition is also of Biblical proportion, dishing up a bounty of vitamins, minerals and powerful plant compounds.

The facts

Passion fruit is round or oval, yellow or purple when mature, with a soft to firm flesh with a cavity of many seeds. There are more than 500 varieties, some as large as grapefruit, others smaller than a lemon. A one-cup serving packs 98 percent DV (Daily Value, based on 2,000 calories/day) of digestive and heart-healthy dietary fiber, 118 percent of antioxidant vitamin C to help power up immunity, and a laundry list of health promoting plant chemicals.

The findings

A plant compound in passion fruit, piceatannol, has shown beneficial effects on metabolic health (insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and heart rate) in overweight men (Nutrients, 2017). Packed with antioxidants, like vitamin C, passion fruit may play a role in disease prevention. Vitamin C has been shown to help protect against diseases, such as atherosclerosis, cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke, which are thought to be caused or made worse by oxidant damage (Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2018). In addition, antioxidant activity in methanol extracts from the pulp and rinds of passion fruit has been shown to play key roles in fighting inflammation (Food Chemistry, 2011).

The finer points

Peak harvest for passion fruit is spring through late summer. Select fruit that is heavy and plump. Ripe passion fruit is wrinkled and dimpled, smooth fruit is under-ripe, but will ripen at room temperature within three to five days. Refrigerate ripe passion fruit in a plastic or paper bag up to a week. Sliced in half, the flesh and the seeds may be scooped and eaten from the skin with a spoon. It may also be pressed through a sieve, to remove seeds, for its juice and pulp, sliced and added to salads, blended into smoothies, added to baked goods or frozen into sorbet or a tropical popsicle!

Young Coconut Passion Fruit Granita

Serves 4

 

Recipe courtesy of Frieda's Inc.

Meat and water from 1 young coconut (about 1 cup water)

3 tablespoons agave syrup

Pulp from 3 passion fruits (Optional: Save the peel to use as serving vessels!)

Pinch of sea salt

1. In blender, blend all ingredients until well combined. You will still have some passion fruit seeds and coconut meat in chunks.

2. Pour mixture in metal baking pan. Freeze 30 minutes, or until top and edges are icy.

3. Using a fork, scrape to break up all the ice. Repeat every 30 minutes until mixture is frozen into fluffy "snow." Let freeze at least an hour before serving.

4. Optional serving: Use the peel as a serving vessel.

Nutrition information: Per serving: 97 calories, 3 grams (g) fat, 1 g saturated fat, 18 g carbohydrate, 1 g protein, 2 g dietary fiber, 141 milligrams sodium, 11 g sugar

(Environmental Nutrition is the award-winning independent newsletter written by nutrition experts dedicated to providing readers up-to-date, accurate information about health and nutrition in clear, concise English. For more information, visit www.environmentalnutrition.com.)