Passionfruit originated in South America, and gets its name from its flowers, which the Spanish missionaries thought looked like the crown of thorns of Christ’s Passion.
In NZ the dark purple is commonly grown. There are yellow and banana passionfruit varieties.
The fruit will fall off the vine when ripe (the more wrinkled – the sweeter). The fruit will store up to 2 weeks in the fridge but it does freeze well.
Over 600 carotenoids have been identified by scientist and these ccompounds not only product the bright colours of passionfruit but they are important anti-oxidants.