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When I think of passionfruit it’s hard not to remember my childhood in Northland, sitting under a laden vine with cousins, gobbling up Gran’s entire crop or climbing rampant wild banana passionfruit vines in Malborough and picking armfuls of fruit, 10 feet off the ground. Opening the fruit and eating them, still warm from the sun, was one of life’s simple pleasures.
Passionfruit are in season right now, so if you can’t see them on the shelves in your local supermarket, ask them to order some in. Whilst most of New Zealand’s passionfruit are grown in the North Island, passionfruit do grow further south but require a frost free environment. At Riverstone we source our passionfruit from growers in Karamea, on the West Coast, where the special micro-climate that exists there has enabled a flourishing crop which now supplies most of the South Island.
Not only delicious to eat, passionfruit are full of Vitamin C, so there is no better time of the year to get stuck in and fight off those winter sniffles and colds at the same time.
Here are a couple of ideas to make the most of this amazing fruit. A simple baked passionfruit tart, smooth and elegant, will convert even the most ardent lemon tart lover. A hot passionfruit soufflé is easy to make and a real treat on a cold winters’ night and served with passionfruit curd and passionfruit ice-cream, who cares about the weather outside!
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