sweet passionfruit pageant = A trip to California is on offer

[Mike T]

These 5 flavicarpa and one edulis passionfruit are a few of the common and familiar sweet passionfruit grown in my area that I picked from the yard or markets in the last couple days. Taste varies with conditions so a comparison doesn't mean one is better or sweeter than others on all occasions. These are bred to be sweet rather than to have a high acid content.
Sweetheart seeds have already booked a trip to California but passionfruit seeds don't like to travel alone. At least one or 2 of the best flavicarpas will be along for the ride.

The opinions will be mine. I'm off to eat, sorry taste them all now. Back soon to report.

[Mike T]

OK I'm back. I'll score them out of 10 where 5 is average/ok,7 is good,8 is great and 10 is impossible to get.

9.5 African Gold, musky,complex, sweet with no acid and strongly fruity,Wow
9 Panama Purple classic passionfruit taste a hint of acid but very sweet and rich
9  Panama Gold striking passionfruit taste that is sweet and aromatic and very different from the panama purple
8.5 sweetheart Classic edulis passionfruit full taste and strong aroma.Ver sweet with a little citrusy tang
8 Pandora Lovely taste with higher acid than the above types and mandarin overtones
7 Yellow sweetie The most acid with a complex taste and heavy aroma. Very different taste from the others no citrus or musk flavors.

African gold and panama purple are going for a ride with a sweetheart.California here they come.

[Coconut]

Wow a sweet yellow african passion fruit, hmmm i am going to cross breed with Berto's giant lemon passion to get a sweet yellow passion fruit that will weight up to a pound or more.  We will name the new one plus pound sweet passion fruit " Mike T. Gold" sweet down under.  Now I just need five seeds of the african gold passion fruit from you Mike for breeding to make an American Yellow Passionfruit with a soul, little more flavor interesting than just pop tart.  Pop by here in  South Florida Mate, we are a little warmer than the California fog.

[kh0110]

...

...

The household fly seems to agree with your grading, Mike.

[Mike T]

Well picked up with the flies. I tasted all of those after the flies were dancing on them......little mongrels. The camera batteries are flat and I couldn't do a fly free pic after I noticed them.
Oh yeah they are going to New guinea as well where sour passionfruit are normal. Panama and Africa are falsely attributed to locally bred passionfruit tpo make them sound 'exotic' for marketing purposes. Red and purple flavicarpas have a feather of edulis blood (sap) in their past but are stable seedling lines in named types. California might be too cool for flavicarpas, we'll see.
Crossing a sweet with a sour might be like crossing yes with no and coming up with maybe.

[kh0110]

...California might be too cool for flavicarpas, we'll see...

I've seen fruited vines in Irvine which is about 20 min. from where I live. Also, I think Pltdworld has them fruited abundantly down in the San Diego area.

[thao]

They all look lovely and very tasty. No misty Gem this time for tasting compasrison? Btw are the panamas's self fertile?

[MangoFang]

Again, I've never really eaten one, though long ago I think I had a taste of
bottled passionfruit juice.  The texture looks icky, but then that's just me
I suppose...

How WOULD you describe them?


Gary

[simon_grow]

Gary, passionfruit has a flavor all it's own. It's very tropical fruit tasting in a good acidic way. The closest thing I can think of is Mangosteen type tropical flavor with more acidity. I love taking a miracle fruit and then making passionfruitaid without sugar, absolutely amazing!
Simon

[Coconut]

Thank Mike for the headup on Marketing name. i will take a pass on the African passionfruit misnomer.
I got a wild amazon super sweet passion from brazil that I am going to be crossing with Berto lb giant tart.  if history is any indication should be around the seven year i will have a stable Giant Berto Sweet that will grow wild and take over South Florida.

Here in good old USA we like our passion fruit tart, than we dump in tons of refine sugar or high fruitose corn syrup or dextrose to make it sweet & develope that complex taste ( Famous Obese Chefs here called it deconstruct) in our ice cream, drinks etc.  That is why we have the highest obesity & diabetes on planet earth follow by our Mexican neighbor to the south.

Yeah I prefer my fruit naturally sweet rather than synthectic adulteration.
Now if I can only breed a passionfruit that taste like chicken, the Amazon Indian will stop shooting all those poor monkeys for diner, that those monkeys have been selecting my wild amazonia sweet passion fruit from the natural tart for the last several millenium.  Ever notice tart guava lack protein but sweet guava here in Florida come a little extra fancy meaty if one keep eyes while enjoying its natural squirminess?  So yes sweet passion fruit attract monkeys for higher energy than tart one.

Anyway I have been overly proud of breeding passionfruit for the last decade for great size & woody disease resistance, cold hardiness & heavy production in Florida laterite soil.  I thought my size of a Canadian Goose egg accomplishment was jumbo until Berto show me his giantnormous atomic bomb; unfortunately it is a tart acidic variety.  Why develope my own true sweet giant yellow invasive Floridian frankenstein?  Well i have grown many florida & california varieties & not impress with their vigor, taste, etc. Purple sweet taste like vinegar, tart that taste worst than a jug of distill vinegar.  Nematodes & cold eat them alive.  So you are lucky that Australia have many dedicate enthuse breeder of more sweet & complex passion fruit for fresh eating. No wonder those Aussies I have met over the years so good looking healthy lean

Breed on the Sugar Loaf Passion Fruit. oh I better check on Adam's pineapple arriving yesterday.

[Mike T]

Thao misty gem is the most common edulis sold commercially and they are pretty similar to sweetheart. All the sweet edulis have only subtle taste differences. Sweet flavicarpas are sweeter than any edulis but sour ones are more acid than any adulis as well.

The references say edulis are self fertile and many flavicarpus are as well. No one hand pollinates and it would be hard to find a few passionfruit vine free acres in northern Australia to test the flavicarpas need to outcross.

Those who prefer the sours could always make there own by adding lime juice and vinegar to a sweet passionfruit. I am sure some people prefer sour grapes and pineapple to sweet ones. Sweetness is probably a major characteristic I would look for so if people enjoy the sourness and look for the 'tang' my assessment wouldn't count for much.

[starling1]

I like pandora a lot, but that's because it has some astringency.

My Nelly kelly grafted black should fruit this year, I have high hopes for it.

[Mike T]

Starling Pandora was bred from a red panama line and gets good publicity but then again the title of best passionfruit gets bandied around quite freely. More seems to have been written about passionfruit varieties than you might expect. Here are a few reference and 'mentions' of varieties. The last reference seems to an old and poor overview.If you are in the market for astringency starling it may be worth trying some of the Asian flavicarpas for a face puckering experience.

http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/fruit%20pages/passionfruit.htm
http://www.faceysnursery.com.au/pickmeedibles/pick-me-edibles/passionfruit---pandora
http://cms2live.horticulture.com.au/admin/assets/library/annual_reports/pdfs/PDF_File_83.pdf
http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-passionfruit.html
https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/passionfruit.html

[thao]

Thao misty gem is the most common edulis sold commercially and they are pretty similar to sweetheart. All the sweet edulis have only subtle taste differences. Sweet flavicarpas are sweeter than any edulis but sour ones are more acid than any adulis as well.

The references say edulis are self fertile and many flavicarpus are as well. No one hand pollinates and it would be hard to find a few passionfruit vine free acres in northern Australia to test the flavicarpas need to outcross.

Those who prefer the sours could always make there own by adding lime juice and vinegar to a sweet passionfruit. I am sure some people prefer sour grapes and pineapple to sweet ones. Sweetness is probably a major characteristic I would look for so if people enjoy the sourness and look for the 'tang' my assessment wouldn't count for much.

Thanks for the info, I hope my two plant/vine is self fertile then, if not I have a few other varieties to help cross pollinate. Though they are still small, so maybe next year, if they live through this year's coming winter. Hopefully one of the Ca guy, will be nice enough to pass some seeds along when they get them

[Mike T]

Today I picked up a few more varieties of edulis passionfruit and panama red flavicapa.The lower 2 are misty gem edulis and panama red flavicarpa. The upper 3 edulis are commercial varieties which I cannot pin a variety to.The edulis on the upper right, is the largest and most orange fleshed I have ever seen.




For taste I would award the large edulis top right and mist gem 9 and panama red 8.5 and the other 2, 7.5.

I know this type of taste test has limited interest outside of where they are found or where there are not many choices with commerciall passionfruit.I thought I'd throw a few last ones that are around at the moment for completion.

[thao]

Since they are bred to be on the sweeter side. They don't have to be ugly and wrinkling to taste the best/sweetest?

[Mike T]

thao these are a bit wrinkled and that panama is a sorry example. Wrinkled passionfruit are still edible especially edulis types but they are frowned on here as they lose their taste and complexity and the juice starts to separate. They are always taste best freher with firm shell/skin.Many people throw them away when the first wrinkles appear and have to be convinced they are still ok for a while. Wrinkled ones don't sell very well.

[Coconut]

So mike in your opinion which edulis & flavicarpa in australia have the best unami taste keeping sweet as a constant index for all in determining your top candidate, second does the sweetness of fruit come from a colder or a warmer riping season?  Here in Parkland 9a I notice the California bred developed a sweeter taste than were I am in Boca 10b.  While Brazilian are much tastier in Boca than Parkland, a micro climate distance 15 miles.

[Mike T]

Coconut that is a great point and yes it renders my observations as pretty limited.As a general rule the more hot and humid the better for flavicarpas and they develop their full sweetness and complexity.Generally from 28 latitude to the equator is best for flavicarpa. The edulis also vary in characteristics depending on the climate and soil with particular types going better in specific areas. Generally sub tropical to Mediterranean are suited for one variety or another.I posted an edulis comparison paper in another thread that evaluated varieties grown at a number of locations.   

[Mike T]

Today I ate these pandora flavicarpas and they were excellent but tasted more like sweet edulis than typical flavicarpa and we're yellow inside instead of flavicarpa orange.I recall starling saying he prefers their ancestor Panama red but I think I prefer pandora and maybe it has to do with climate.

[Mike T]

These 3 passionfruit were given to me from different sources as excellent new varieties but I don't have their names other than extra sweet flavicarpas.I will report back when they go through the taste test.

[bangkok]

I also have some new yellow passionfruits growing, they are really sweet (i tasted them) but i don't know the name. big yellow ones.

[barath]

Mike -- did you do a taste test of those new colorful passionfruits you showed in your most recent photo?  Also, any chance you'd be willing to send some African Gold seeds by mail for us to try here in California?

[Triloba Tracker]

You guys are killing me with the passionfruits! I have recently become quite smitten with passionfruit. I hope to grow some Maypop (P. incarnata) next year because I can't afford the sad-looking (and tasting) ones at Whole Foods or the cost from Robert Is Here.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but is there anywhere to get good passionfruit for less than $10 a pound in the US? Mailorder included..

[thao]

You can try White Dove farm in CA http://www.localharvest.org/white-dove-fredricks-passion-fruit-C5647