Passion Fruit – Granadilla, Purple Granadilla, Yellow Passion Fruit

Passion fruit comes in a couple of different varieties.

Passion Fruit – Granadilla, Purple Granadilla, Yellow Passion Fruit

✔️Passion fruit is one of the few antioxidant fruits that improve not only your physical health but also your mental health.

✔️Native to areas ranging from southern Brazil and Paraguay to Argentina, this fruit can treat anxiety, depression, and even sleep disorders like insomnia.

✔️Passion fruit comes in two varieties. Once it has reached maturity, one is a dark purple color and has a less acidic, richer taste. The other turns yellow at maturity and is typically larger than purple. Unlike the purple passion fruit, the yellow passion fruit has no known origin, although people have speculated that it may be from Brazil.

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Passion Fruit, Granadilla, Purple Granadilla

Passion fruit goes by many names, its scientific one being Passiflora edulis for the purple fruit and Passiflora edulis flavicarpa for the yellow. In contrast, another common name is Granadilla (or Purple Granadilla). Purple passion fruit is a subtropical fruit that will only flower and fruit in altitudes above 3,200 ft.

Yellow passion fruit is tropical and can be grown from just above sea level up to 2,000 ft. Interestingly, these passion fruit varieties differ to such a degree. The people of Brazil tend to use purple fruit to eat raw, while they prefer yellow fruit for juice extractions and preserves.

Australians love the purple passion fruit and vastly favor it over the yellow for all preparations.

Passion Fruit Across the World 🌟

To this day, you will encounter Brazil’s most powerful and well-established passionflower industry – this is where this juicy fruit originated, after all. Since the fruit is so familiar and beloved, you’ll find it consumed in many different forms: raw, mousses and juices, baked products, and ice cream.

Australia and New Zealand also have long-standing industries that slowly but steadily flourished before and during the 20th century. In Australia, the purple variety of passion fruit is more common.

However, the crops were constantly threatened by a condition called ‘woodiness’ that interfered with the fruit’s natural development. This is why farmers had to develop suitable and more fungus-resistant substitutes.

The same issue was present with New Zealand passion fruit crops, but thankfully farmers found a way to keep the situation under control throughout the years and are nowadays exporting juices and fruits.

Hawaii also has a thriving passion fruit industry, this time of the yellow variety, and you can see this fruit casually being enjoyed in cocktails and creative desserts.

The plant is quite susceptible to infestations by easily-spreadable fungi, so it faced the same challenges when grown on a larger scale in Kenya and Uganda. Both these countries struggled to maintain healthy crops throughout the years and eventually decided to plant passion fruit within small areas to avoid quick infestation.

India also has a steady industry, yielding plenty of yellow passion fruit yearly. The fruit plant was not so heavily threatened by diseases in South Africa, where it still flourishes today. The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are also riddled with abundant purple passion fruit crops.

This is precisely why it also has an impressive string of alternate names, each specific to the culture that embraced this fantastic fruit.

Having said this, passion fruit will be called maracujá in Brazil and Portugal, mburucuyá in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and maracuyá in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Mexico, Honduras, and Peru. As we move further away across the globe, the denomination sees increasing change: we have chinola for passion fruit in the Dominican Republic, lilikoi in Hawaii, markisa in Indonesia, and calala in Nicaragua.

What’s in a Passion Fruit? 🌟

Let’s take a closer look at the nutritional value of purple passion fruit to understand better why it’s so beneficial for our health. A cup of purple passion fruit (236 g) has 66 mg of sodium, 1.7 g of fat, 24.5 g of fiber, and 5.2 g of protein, while only packing in 229 calories.

You’ll also find this powerful antioxidant fruit containing great vitamins and minerals that will keep your immune system healthy and sturdy, ready to fight many troublesome health conditions.

• Vitamin C – This vitamin is at the core of what makes the immune system function properly. It’s the ingredient that ensures all body tissues are healthy and repaired accordingly when due. Vitamin C also takes a front row in building collagen and helping the body recover from wounds. When you have a diet rich in vitamin C, you’ll also see healthy development in your teeth and bone system.
• Vitamin A – is responsible for the healthy maintenance of your eye health and for the prevention of age-related macular degeneration.
• Potassium – this mineral will help you keep anxiety and depression at bay. Your mood and fluid levels will be regulated with the help of potassium. This mineral will also help with muscle contraction and maintain healthy nerve signaling.
• Calcium – your bone system and nerves will significantly benefit from a calcium-rich diet. Whenever you pair it with vitamin D, this mineral may also help prevent diabetes, certain cancers, and high blood pressure.
• Iron – when you have optimal levels of iron in your body, you can also ensure optimal energy levels. Iron also regulates your body temperature, ensuring the gastrointestinal processes run smoothly.
• Phosphorus – this mineral is responsible for reducing muscle pain after exercising and managing how the body uses its energy. It also helps grow, maintain, and repair tissue and cells.
• Vitamin K is essential in blood clotting, the healthy functioning of bone metabolism, and regulating blood calcium levels.

Apart from these, the excellent passion fruit also contains choline, magnesium, folate, and niacin.

Magnesium will help fight off anxiety and depression while also relaxing your muscles. Folate is one of the B vitamins, and it helps create red and white cells in the bone marrow while producing DNA and RNA. Niacin or more commonly known as vitamin B3, on the other hand, helps lower bad cholesterol levels and may help prevent heart disease and type 1 diabetes. Choline serves to protect your memory and cognitive brain functions.

Passion Fruit To Improve Mental Health 🌟

The flowers of its fruit vine have been used traditionally in folk medicine as a calming agent, usually to help someone fall asleep. However, researchers who published a study in “Phytotherapy Research” found that the flowers had a depressant effect on the nonspecific central nervous system.

Another study in “Anesthesia and Analgesia” tested whether the flower could treat anxiety in patients about to undergo surgery effectively.

The results were positive – passion fruit flowers can reduce anxiety without causing sedation.

While the fruit and its flowers (and even its vine) can positively affect your mental health, it is worthwhile to make sure this plant doesn’t have any contraindications with the medicine you’re on. If you’re taking the medication regularly, check with your doctor that it’s safe to try passion fruit flowers before doing it. Better safe than sorry!

Physical Health Benefits 🌟

The yellow passion fruit, the maracuya, has traditional medicinal uses. Similar to cranberries, its juice can be used to treat urinary tract infections. It has also shown potential in treating asthma, thanks partly to its vitamin C and potassium content (although that’s not the only reason).

Passion fruit is one of the vitamin, mineral, and fiber-rich fruits when it comes down to it. In addition, research is being done to establish whether passion fruit can fight chronic inflammation. If so, this is another benefit to add to the ever-expanding list.

Yellow Passion Fruit, or “Maracuyá” 🌟

Traditional medicine uses it for urinary tract infections, much like cranberry. This fruit’s Vitamin C, potassium, and other relaxing agents may help with asthma or spasmodic coughing conditions.

The nutritional benefits are:

• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Fiber

It can help with the following:

• Urinary Tract Infection
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Asthma

Studies suggest that the fruit can fight chronic inflammation, which is increasingly linked to more diseases.

How To Best Choose Passion Fruit 🌟

Passion fruit is a very accessible fruit in that it doesn’t require any special preparation before eating. All you need to do is ensure the passion fruit you choose is ripe enough to eat so you get the most out of its fantastic aroma and taste.

Whenever you pick up a passion fruit, you must assess it with all your senses. If it feels heavy enough in your hands, the fruit is ripe and ready to be eaten.

The skin of the passion fruit can either be smooth or wrinkly. However, the wrinkles will always indicate that the fruit is ripe. The skin should also be clear, without any spots or signs of discoloration. Depending on where and how it was grown, the skin of the passion fruit may still hold some pesticide residue, so make sure you wash it before you eat it.

As soon as you’re done washing it, you can either scoop the content out or eat the fleshy pulp straight out of the pulp – a juicy, fun-filled experience that will add to your enjoyment of eating passion fruit.

Passion Fruit and Its Myriad Uses 🌟

It has been around for so long, and it’s been enjoyed for many centuries in countries across the globe. As a consequence, people have many ways in which they can integrate this highly versatile fruit into their lifestyle.

Having said this, you can either make passion fruit a steady and reoccurring ingredient in your healthy lifestyle or add it now and then to your diet.

• Passion fruit makes an excellent ingredient for delicious drinks, whether we’re talking about teas, juices, or smoothies. Its delicious aroma will make any drink simply irresistible. Beyond this, passion fruit has also made a name for itself as an unusual ingredient in cocktails worldwide. Whether ordering a passion fruit colada in Hawaii or a passion fruit mojito in Brazil, you’ll be spellbound by what wonderful aroma this fruit can add to any drink.
• Baked goods are also one way to enjoy your tasty passion fruit and become creative. If you’re eager to try your hand at the more exciting baked desserts, including passion fruit as an ingredient, go for cakes, puddings, eclairs, curds, and panna cottas. Passion fruit can be added to almost anything, so your willingness to experiment will make all the difference.

FAQ

See common names for the Fruit by going to our Passion Fruit Names webpage.

An excellent source for more information about passion fruit is the Califorantioxidant-fruits.com a Rare Fruit Growers’ website.