Taiwan organic passion fruit

Highly aromatic Passiflora edulis, commonly known as passion fruit or granadilla, is praised as the “King of juice” for its yellow pulpy juicy full of black seeds in a red or purple rind. It is a perennial vine of the Passifloraceae family. Taiwanese call it “Clock Fruit” for its clock-like purple flower with white fringe.

Native to Brazil, the purple –fruited variety of passion fruits was brought to Taiwan in 1901 in the Japanese colonial period. Later in 1964, the yellow-fruited variety was brought from the United Sates. Now we have more varieties, such as “Tai-Non No. 1” and golden passion fruit. The hybrid “Tai-Non No. 1” was bred with the purple and yellow varieties by the Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment branch of the Agricultural Research Institute.

The main crop areas include Nantou, Taichung and Hualien. Dapingding is located at 650 to 800 meters above sea level in Puli, Nantou and grows more than 90% of the total produce in Taiwan. Both the big temperature difference between day and night and the well-drained red sandy soil in Dapingding contribute to passion fruits’ rich aroma, membranous sac filled with pulpy juice and sweetness degree up to 15.

Passion fruit is mainly harvested through summer to winter in Taiwan. Organic farmers grow them in net houses to prevent oriental fruit flies and to reduce the usage of agricultural chemicals with environment-friendly plant protection materials. Therefore, farmers can have early produce for early spring harvest.

Instead of being picked directly from the vines, passion fruit is protected by a mesh set under the vines from dropping to the ground and can be harvested after falling to the mesh. Organic farmers use hanging meshes or trellis plus protection grow bags to prevent fruit loss from dropping and broken fruits. The harvest is stored in well-ventilated places at room temperature for one to two days. The fruit ripens and tastes sweeter after the stalk is dry and rind becomes wrinkled.

Passion fruit can be processed in various ways, including juice, jam, jelly, extract, vinegar, liquor, popsicle, and ice cream. It is also ideal to make salad dressing and marinate food.