Passionate about Passion Fruit

Why is it that some people love strawberries obsessively, and others would kill for a sweet, freshly-picked ear of corn? Could it be memories connecting the taste with long-past pleasant times and experiences? Or is there a chemical disposition in one's taste and smell receptors that causes one to love this food and hate that one? I don't know the answer; however, I do know that whatever the reason, I adore passion fruit. I must have first tasted passion fruit in my 20s or 30s, so it can't be a case of a Proustian response to some long-lost childhood paradise. I guess I'll just have to put it down to chemistry then.

In any case, for a passion fruit addict like me, living in Brazil is a junkie's paradise. Passion fruit (Portuguese: Maracujá) (Bot: Passiflora edulis) is cheaply and readily available all year round, and is used in a large number of dishes and drinks. There's passion fruit juice, which Brazilians will tell you has a tranquilizing and sedative effect, and there's the juice's stronger cousin, the caipifruta de maracujá, which is basically a caipirinha made with passion fruit juice rather than lime juice.



Passion fruit is used as a flavoring agent in sweet baking, in cakes and tortes, and most commonly, perhaps, in the form of passion fruit mousse (mousse de maracujá). Passion fruit ice cream is a marvel, and starting the day with a passion fruit smoothie is a well-known hangover reliever.

Passion fruit can also be used in savory dishes, and shrimp in passion fruit sauce is a standard menu item in seafood restaurants. It can also be used to great success in marinades and salsas.

Did I forget to mention passion fruit flavored Tic-Tacs and chewing gum?  Great to tide one over until one's next fix of true passion fruit.