Passion fruit is an exotic fruit with a weird texture that most certainly doesn’t help you know when a passion fruit is fully ripe.
For this reason, I will talk in this article about how safe it is to eat unripe passion fruit and what are the best ways to check if your passion fruit is ripe or not.
Since it is a fruit that is not so popular in many countries, it can be hard to find it in your regular stores, which can make it quite expensive. But if somehow you see it, there is no way you don’t want to test it. Its dark purple or dark orange color gives you a vibe that it has a deliciously sweet taste, but does it?
If you read this article through the end, you will know how to choose a good ripe passion fruit and also what to do with it if it is unripe.
When is passion fruit ripe?
Passion fruit is completely ripe when it has a dark purple or orange color and a wrinkly and dimply texture; also, it should have a fragrant smell. There are two main types of passion fruit, a purple one and the yellow one.
Perfectly ripe passion fruit will taste like a combination of mango, peach, and pineapple with just a bit of tart taste.
Passion fruit doesn’t look great when it is ripe, but that is the moment when it will have a delicious taste.
Color is also a good indication that the fruit is ripe, the purple one should be dark purple, and the orange one should not have any green spots on it.
The sweet scent will not be so strong, but it should be there when you smell the fruit. Make sure you don’t touch the fruit with your nose if you are in the market since you would be disgusted if someone else is doing that.
Read Also: Are Passion Fruit And Passion Flower The Same ?
Can you eat unripe passion fruit?
Yes, you can safely eat unripe passion fruit. However, the taste will be very tart and not sweet at all, which will probably lead to a bad experience rather than a delicious tasting fruit.
The passion fruit will continue to ripen after being picked, so if you got an unripe fruit you don’t have to throw it away. Just give it a few more days, anywhere between 3 and 7 days should be enough for it to be fully ripe.
You can speed up the process if you keep it close to other fruits that emit ethylene, like bananas, pears, kiwis, mangoes, etc.
So even if it is safe to eat unripe passion fruit, make sure you give it time to ripe if you want to enjoy this delicious fruit, otherwise it can be underwhelming.
How to store passion fruit?
If you don’t want to eat the fruit right away you can store it into the fridge for up to 30 days, preferably place it in an airtight container or put it in a paper bag and keep it away from other food or fruits.
Passion fruit is a fruit that lasts quite a long time, even on the counter it can last up to 15 days. This depends on how ripe the fruit was when you bought it, the room temperature, how close it is to other fruits, and whether it is in direct sunlight.
Passion fruit can also be frozen for up to six months, this is a good way to store passion fruit if you plan to use it in cooking or as a drink. But it doesn’t work that well if you want to enjoy the fruit on its own after you thaw it since the texture will have to suffer.
What to do with passion fruit?
Passion fruit has many uses, but other than eating it as-is, most of the uses are in baking or making a delicious sweet alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink.
I will give you a few examples here of what you can do with this delicious fruit and where its soft creamy texture can help:
-Passion fruit sauce. Making a sauce from passion fruit can work great as a dressing for your salad but also as a sauce for your main dish, especially if you serve it with duck breast or beef steak. But it can work great with chicken breast and many other types of vegetables or meat, so your imagination is the limit in this case.
-Smoothie. Passion fruit can work wonders in a smoothie if you combine it with your favorite fruits and spices. I would recommend you to use some fruits that are not as strong as passion fruit since it works best when the passion fruit is the main flavor of the smoothie.
-Cocktails. You can make quite a lot of cocktails with the passion fruit since it works great in drinks, but one of the well-known ones is passion fruit martini, which is delicious.
-Baking. When it comes to baking, there are no limits. It works great in a fruit tart, in cakes, cookies, roulades, and so on. If you like the passion fruit taste, you can use its flavor in almost any type of dessert.
How to buy good passion fruit?
In order to make sure you get the best out of this delicious fruit, you need to make sure that you buy the best passion fruit. For this, I will give you a few things to check before you buy the fruits:
–Pay attention to the passion fruit season. Like many fruits that are imported, you have lower chances of getting a good one if it is not in its prime season. The season for passion fruit is from mid-summer to mid-winter. It is good to know that the purple ones will be in season in the summer while the orange ones will be in season a bit later.
-Color. As we said a few times in this article, the color is the best indication of a passion fruit’s ripeness. The purple ones should be dark purple, and the orange ones should be dark orange, almost red.
-Texture. The texture of perfectly ripe passion fruit is wrinkly, but there are few chances you will get it like that out of the market since they don’t look good, and most people will consider that they have gone bad. You can buy ones that are not wrinkly yet and leave them to ripen in a fruit bowl.
-Smell. The passion fruit should have a sweet fragrant smell, the absence of the smell is a sign that the fruit is not ripe yet.
Read Also: When Is Persimmon Ripe?
Conclusion
The conclusion is that you have to check the color, texture, and smell of a passion fruit if you want to make sure that it is fully ripe. Eating an unripe passion fruit will be unpleasant so in case you buy a passion fruit that is not entirely ripe, make sure you leave it on the counter for a few more days.
I hope you know now how to pick the best passion fruit and what to do with it since many recipes make great use of this delicious fruit.
