Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) is usually eaten by scooping out the pulp. The pulp, however, is only a small portion of the fruit, so most of the passion fruit is actually not used. The big remainder of the fruit is its flesh, which is usually just disposed of.
Lilibeth “Beth” Danan, a former electrical engineer and now an agribusiness owner based in Taysan, Batangas, wants to make full use of the entire passion fruit. She shared with Agriculture Online the products she makes with passion fruits, as well as future products she is considering to develop so she can make better use of the entire fruit.
Passion fruit comes in two common varieties: yellow and purple. The yellow variety is larger and more acidic compared to the latter. The yellow variety is also the variety of choice of passion fruit farmers of Taysan, Batangas, and thus the variety that Lilybeth uses to develop her products.
Making use of the pulp
Passion fruit can be turned into multiple forms of juice. The pulp of passion fruit contains a lot of seeds, so the juice is extracted by using a strainer. The juice can be sold as a puree, which is just pure juice with nothing added. The yellow variety of passion fruit is sour, so sugar can be added to produce a concentrate.
The taste of passion fruit juice in puree and concentrate form is both intense, so this can be diluted by adding water. This can then be branded and sold as a ready-to-drink version of the juice.
Beth added that passion fruit juice can be fermented to produce wine.
Making use of the flesh
The flesh of passion fruits should not be disposed of as there are ways to make use of them.
Jam can be made by combining the pulp and flesh of the passion fruit. Once the pulp is scooped out, the flesh of the passion fruit is boiled to soften it. The flesh is mashed together and then combined with the pulp. The mixture is cooked in heat with sugar added to produce passion fruit jam.
The flesh of passion fruit can also be processed to make dried passion fruit. This is achieved by blanching the flesh, mixing them with sugar, and drying them under the sun or by using a dehydrating machine.
By making use of the entire passionfruit, agribusiness owners like Beth can reduce their waste products and potentially increase profit. At the moment, Beth said she is only able to use a third of the passionfruit and admitted that she does not know what to do with the rest. Once she has fully developed all her juice products, she aims to explore these other ideas to fully maximize the business potential of this marvelous fruit.