FreshPoint

Description:

A very distinctive passion fruit relative, Passiflora Mollissima Bailey was renamed Banana Passion Fruit in New Zeland. In Hawaii, it is called Banana Poka. In its Latin American homeland, it is known as Curuba, Curuba de Castilla, or Curuba Sabanera Blanco (Columbia) Tacso, Tagso, Tauso (Ecuador) Parcha (Venezuela), Tumbo or Curuba (Bolivia) Tacso, Tumbo, Tumbo del Norte, Trompos or Tintin (Peru). Whatever you call it, Banana Passion Fruit is believed to have been domesticated only shortly before the Spanish Conquest…It is native and commonly found in the wild in Andean valleys from Venezuela and eastern Colombia to Boliva and Peru. While common Passion Fruit is grown in sub-tropical climates, this variety requires hot, moist tropical conditions which is why it has never succeeded in Florida. The climate of New Zealand is highly suitable, however, and Banana Passion Fruit has been grown there, more or less commercially, for several decades. The very aromatic, salmon-colored pulp is subacid to acid, very rich in flavor, and is eaten out-of-hand or is strained for its juice. In Bolivia, the juice, combined with aguardiente and sugar, is served as a pre-dinner cocktail. Colombians strain out the seeds and serve the pulp with milk and sugar (think Banana Passion Fruit souffle), or use it in gelatin desserts. In Ecuador, the pulp is made into ice cream.