Beat-the-Heat Passion Fruit Punch

This delicious Passion Fruit Punch was a new experience for me.  You see, I’d never even seen a passion fruit before it was introduced to me by my Australian blogging friend, Vanessa.  I met Vanessa in October 2012 at Bloggy Boot Camp  Las Vegas and although I’m 25+ years older than her, we just clicked.  You can read (and see) all about Vanessa in the following posts:

• 42 Things to Do at the San Diego Zoo
• Barefoot with Friends and Vanessa’s Pavlova
• Bloggy Boot Camp Revealed
• Toot Sweet 4 Two Turns One:  A Blog-o-versary Party Recap
• Vanessa’s Rainbow, Tim Tams and Vegemite

Plus, you can catch up with Vanessa at her own blog, The Teensy, Tiny Insignificant Details.  BTW – I love the title of Vanessa’s blog because it always makes me think that life isn’t defined by those broad sweeping moments, like births, deaths, weddings, divorces, etc. (although they are significant and important), but by the teensy, tiny insignificant details that make up every day life and, in hindsight, become important and memorable as the years pass.

I first saw a passion fruit up close when we (Vanessa and I) bought one in my local grocery store in order to make her Pavlova.  It’s an important ingredient and I wasn’t sure we could find one.  Because, even though passion fruit does grow in Southern California, it doesn’t seem to have permeated the Southern California food culture, so isn’t something readily available.  I think we just lucked out and that an angel was sitting on Vanessa’s shoulder making it possible for Vanessa to recreate her fabulous dessert for her new American friends.

In any case, as luck would have it, a few months after Vanessa’s visit to our country, I invited my good friend, Sita, and her husband, Carl, over to teach me to cook Sita’s Curry Chicken and her Calypso Rice.  I’ve known Sita for over 30 years and many years ago, she gave me her recipe for Curry Chicken, but I lost it in the fire.  So, I asked if she would come over and share her recipes and we’d have a little impromptu dinner party, to boot, including one of her sons, Curtis, and his wife, Shana.

Really, it’s a little deceptive on my part (really a diabolical conspiracy on my part):  I invite my friends over and ask them to cook one of their recipes, I photograph it for the blog and then I get to eat it!  Without doing any of the work!  Genius on my part, don’t you think?  {grin}.  I’ve done it a couple of other times and you can read those posts here:

• Barefoot with Friends and Vanessa’s Pavlova
• Ensalada de Nopales
• Kathy’s 16-Layer Lasagna
• Rosa’s Caramel Flan
• Rosa’s Pork Posole
• Sita’s Calypso Rice
• Sita’s Curry Chicken

And, by the way, I plan to continue to do this:  invite friends over, have them cook for me and eat all their food! {grin}.

Seriously, I call this my “Teach Me to Cook” series on my blog and I decided it would be a fun way to incorporate different recipes on my site.  Vanessa was the first in the series and this Passion Fruit Punch recipe is the most current in the series.

But, a little disclaimer about this recipe:  Carl has a passion fruit tree in his yard.  So, he harvests lots and lots of passion fruit.  He cuts them open, squeezes out the pulp and the juice and freezes it until he uses it.  And, Carl was gracious enough to bring a bag of his frozen pulp over to make his punch.  But, he doesn’t remember exactly how many passion fruit were it that particular bag!  So, he’s guessing it was 20 passion fruit (they’re small).

The other thing I want to ‘fess up is that this punch was made last October.  Yup, October 2013.  He made it at the same time that Sita made Curry Chicken and Calypso Rice.  But, the photos were so pretty with the sunshine colors of spring and summer, that I wanted to hold off on releasing the punch until spring or summer.

So, I decided to wait no more.  This week I was releasing this recipe to the universe.

And, as the conscientious food blogger that I am, I decided I’d buy passion fruit and recreate it so that I could give readers the exact amount.  So, I went to the store where Vanessa and I bought passion fruit last July.  And, guess what?  No passion fruit!  The produce guy at the store told me they weren’t in season!

I went to another store to finish shopping (I sometimes grocery shop at 4 different stores – I have my favorite things at each one and each one doesn’t carry what the other one carries) and lo’ and behold, they had passion fruit!  But, guess what?  They cost $2.00 a piece!!!  Yes, $2.00 a piece!  I guess they really aren’t “in season” right now and while I love my readership, I don’t love you all enough to spend $40.00 on passion fruit to recreate a recipe that I’ve already photographed.

So, here’s the thing {grin}:

• I’m not giving you a “printable” recipe, because I don’t have the exact measurements (my April Fool’s joke to you!).
• Unless you can find a passion fruit source with more reasonable prices, wait until passion fruit is “in season” in your area to make this punch.

Because, I think everyone should try this punch at least once.  Because, it’s pretty darn delicious!  A definite citrusy flavor almost like orange juice, it’s a wonderful change of pace from packaged flavored punches or bottled ones.  Plus, because you make it with the actual fruit, you aren’t getting any of those nasty additives that are in packaged and bottled punches (necessary for shelf life, stability and all that).

Here’s what you do:

1. Line a large bowl or pot with cheesecloth.  Squeeze the passion fruit juice and pulp over the cheesecloth (in this case, Carl poured his frozen pulp from the freezer bag into a bowl and let it defrost on the counter while we cooked the rest of the meal.  So, in the photo above, Carl is pouring the passion fruit pulp and juice from a bowl).
2. Lifting the corners of the cheesecloth, squeeze the passion fruit juice through the cheese cloth.
3. Then, use a fine mesh sieve over another bowl and pour the seeds and pulp into the sieve.  Massage the pulp in the sieve to release all the juice.
4. A close-up of what passion fruit juice and pulp looks like before straining through cheesecloth and fine-mesh sieve.
5. Pour the passion fruit juice back through the sieve one more time to make sure that all the seeds are captured.
6. Pour the strained passion fruit juice into a pitcher.

Then add water.  Carl added a ratio of 3 to 1:  three parts water to one part passion fruit juice.  Next, add sugar.  I think Carl added about a cup of sugar, but start with a half cup, stir and taste and add more as needed.  Finish by adding ice cubes to the pitcher.

Not only is it delicious and refreshing, but it’s so pretty!

So, after this woefully unsuccessful trip to the grocery store to buy passion fruit so that I could make Passion Fruit Punch again, I’ve decided that Charlie and I need to plant a couple of passion fruit trees so that I’ll have an unlimited supply – just like Carl {grin}.

P.S.  Yes, the sunflowers in the picture are real – gorgeous aren’t they?

Tootles,

 

Related Posts:

(other drink recipes)

• Hot Apple Cider with Mulling Spices
• Old Glory Guzzler:  A Patriotic Cocktail
• Witch’s Brew