Passion for Passionfruit - Quest for the best

[Mike T]

I am a passionfruit lover and have tried every P.edulis edulis and P.edulis flavicarpa I can lay my hands on. Locally everyone seems to have a variation and claim their one is the best and they are almost held in religious reverence. I scan the markets and try each type and even have put passionfruit showdowns on old threads here. Every form of panama red and gold and crosses I have sampled and even in Africa and SE Asia I tried all before me. I don't like them sour, or empty and enjoy richly flavoured sweet full fruit of good size.
I a few times have I ever said to myself WTF (whisky tango foxtrot) this is something special. One was with African Gold distributed by Limberlost Nursery    (nothing to do with Africa just as Panamas have nothing to do with that country) and another was with Ernie, a grey triangular fruit bred in Bloomfield allegedly and it kicks serious ass. A third time was with a selection from Russell who sadly passed away and is of Russell Sweet Garcinia notoriety. His passionfruit is excellent also and I tried it on the weekend.

[Mike T]

Here it is.

[ScottR]

Mike, is there any source for seeds of this variety?

[BoBiscuit]

That's a beautiful fruit! Great pulp to rind ratio too, especially for one that big.

[jimreevescairns]

Hi Mike
Does planting from seed replicate the parent plant characteristics or do you need to graft them ?
Cheers
Jim

[Mike T]

They grow pretty true most of the time as most are self -fertile but can outcross with nearby vines that are in bloom. They produce more fruit when more than one vine that are unrelated are planted close by. This was a one-off fruit that I acquired so they are not readily available. Flavicarpas that are grey, red or purple usually have some edulis in their recent family history. 

[Mike T]

Well chums this week I re-acquainted myself with two of the allegedly finest edulis, misty gem and sweetheart. They were good alright and if we rate then out of ten they were both solid 7 or 7.5 with rich taste profiles, full, and sweet. If Ernie is a 9.5, Russells is 8, African gold is 9 and panama red and yellow are 7.5, how would un-named missed up crossed rank?
Delighted you asked as I stumbled across pinkish passionfruits of unknown identity this week.


They look ok but its whats inside that counts.


Full aromatic and flavourful alright.They are a feather more acid than ideal however and would deserve a solid 7.5 out of 10.They are not red yellow or purple but occupy a Disneyland in between.

[roblack]

Thanks for posting all this info. Now I have even more reasons to travel to Australia.

[skhan]

Yup, we need to get some of these over here.
Panama red has been the best I've tried so far

[sttmike]

although i do like passionfruit, i much prefer bell apple which is all i grow these days. 

the skin is semi soft and the flavor beats the heck out of any passionfruit i've ever tried (although i have no idea what varieties of passionfruit i've tried since most have been acquired from whatever i found growing)  : >)

from the top tropical website:   https://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/Passiflora_nitida.htm

''Passiflora nitida (Bell Apple) is a tasty, but relatively unknown passion fruit native to the Amazon jungle region. This is a rare, really delicious fruit which is much sweeter than any passion fruit. It grows in the tropical lowlands from Costa Rica in the north and French Guiana in the northeast, through wide parts of Brazil. It is similar to P. laurifolia, with orange-yellow fruits that have a sweet, succulent pulp. It is a fast-growing tropical vine. Its flowers are blue and red, a bit like P. laurifolia and P. quadrangularis. The fruits grow up to 2 in. It is tropical and should be protected from frost. The fruits are eaten fresh and very sweet, with no acid, yet very good in flavor. Passiflora nitida is also a useful fruit in a drink called Purple Passion.''

best,

mike

[happyhana]

sttmike

Have you tried laurifolia? Curious how you’d compare the two. laurifolia is so different from edulis, hard to compare the two.

[happyhana]

Pink?! Wow, those look fantastic.

Mike, how much is the Cairn agrotourism lobby paying you? Because it’s not enough.

[sttmike]

hi happyhana,

haven't tried Passiflora laurifolia that i know of.  : >)

i believe that bell apple is indigenous to the virgin islands but i don't know if i've ever heard anyone mention ''water lemon'' or ''jamaican honeysuckle''.

i'll have to ask around.   thanks.

from the same top tropical page linked above:

''Another similar species - Passiflora laurifolia, commonly known as the Water Lemon, Jamaican Honeysuckle and Orange Lilikoi. The fruit is very sweet and the plant is rare in cultivation. It is native to tropical Americas. It is not yet widely known outside those regions. The fruits are eaten fresh, or used in drinks and beverages.
The fruit is medium-sized, ovoid in shape, about 2 in long, with a green or deep orange skin and white-yellow, extremely juicy pulp. The water lemon has an excellent mild, perfumed taste, without the tartness of the common Passionfruit. It grows on a vigorous vine up to 30 feet long. Growing better in slightly humid climates, the vine is not particular about soil or water requirements, other than liking ground moisture year-round. As a tropical species, it will not tolerate frost.
It is almost always grown from seeds, but can be propagated by cuttings.''

best,

mike

[Mike T]

Laurifolia is not in the same league being comparatively bland and lacking any acid for balance. I have some nitida seedlings and have grown them a few times without luck or survival. We will see but hard to compete with fruit that have been selected for, for quite a while. Those tight arses should be throwing $ at me I agree.

[happyhana]

Aloha Mike,

Think you’d really like laurifolia; super sweet juicy and lots of perfume. Plant is naturalized here, grows like a weed and is much more refined in appearance than edulis.

Being in the Caribbean you’ve probably tasted it


I wouldn’t include it in the discussion of best passion. Doesn’t have the flavor complexity, intensity and sugar acid balance of flavicarpas.

[Mike T]

It is grown here and I know it well. I do like it but is really outgunned in a showdown.

[happyhana]

Sorry, addressing sttmike, and I agree with you

[happyhana]

MikeT

Do all these superior passion varieties and positive market acceptance mix with the Australian wine industry to create some tasty pf wines?

[Mike T]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passion_Pop

For the princely sum of $1 a bottle when it first hit the market many a teen was compromised by passion pop. A discerning palate like yourself may actually enjoy this rotgut.

[roblack]

although i do like passionfruit, i much prefer bell apple which is all i grow these days. 

the skin is semi soft and the flavor beats the heck out of any passionfruit i've ever tried (although i have no idea what varieties of passionfruit i've tried since most have been acquired from whatever i found growing)  : >)

from the top tropical website:   https://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/Passiflora_nitida.htm

''Passiflora nitida (Bell Apple) is a tasty, but relatively unknown passion fruit native to the Amazon jungle region. This is a rare, really delicious fruit which is much sweeter than any passion fruit. It grows in the tropical lowlands from Costa Rica in the north and French Guiana in the northeast, through wide parts of Brazil. It is similar to P. laurifolia, with orange-yellow fruits that have a sweet, succulent pulp. It is a fast-growing tropical vine. Its flowers are blue and red, a bit like P. laurifolia and P. quadrangularis. The fruits grow up to 2 in. It is tropical and should be protected from frost. The fruits are eaten fresh and very sweet, with no acid, yet very good in flavor. Passiflora nitida is also a useful fruit in a drink called Purple Passion.''

best,

mike

Hey Mike! What does p. nitida need for pollination?

Flowers for a few years here, still no fruits.

[sttmike]

hi roblack,

unfortunately, i don't find much information on passiflora nitida specifically, but i assume pollination is similar to all passiflora.

from ''tropical crops'' by j.w. pursglove, about all passiflora pollination, it says:

''cross-pollination is done mainly by carpenter bees, xylocopa spp., but the flowers are also visited by honey bees and wasps.  humming birds may assist pollination...''

also:  ''ungerminated pollen grains burst on contact with water, but when the pollen tubes have grown they are not so destroyed.  this accounts for failure in pollination during rain.''

good luck!  : >)

best,

mike

[roblack]

Thanks Mike!

Surprised no fruits yet. Tons of pollinators, and a variety of passiflora. Have tried hand pollination as well. Vine is probably 30 feet tall or more.

[Mike T]

So after trying new P.edulis edulis varieties only known by letters and numbers, more P.edulis flavicarpa and some good P.ligularis I'm coming back at you on passionfruit. Some new edulis are pretty good with rich passionfruit taste but perhaps no better than the current crop of top standards. I can't vouch for Californians like Frederick and 'possum'? Good P.ligularis are ok but just not flavoursome enough and the taste profile is a little thin even when they are good and sweet. While there are some sour P.edulis flavicarpa if Panama Yellow and Red are the standards of the finest dessert passionfruit I have only tasted a few better. Asian flavicarpa and those I tried in Africa as well as lilikoi just don't stack up and are mostly sour. Pandora and African gold I will reiterate are excellent but Ernie is perhaps the finest eating of all passionfruit.
My chum Dan in Koah has an Ernie vine and it is festooned. I am going to road test it 7 months and at opposite seasons from when I last tried it. Let's look at Ernie.

It is very heavy and full.




In the shade and sun above and it is packed solid and loaded with exquisite juice. The taste is a rich classic passionfruit with rose water and musky tones and it is very sweet. Tastes even better than last time I tried one. Maybe my quest for the best is over.

[Colombo973]

Mouth watering pics Mike !
I hope to taste these new varieties one day.
Even if I am well aware of not knowing the elite of passion fruit, i allow myself to say that P. nitida is a fruit that will probably bring great added value to the Passiflora fruit family once its wide dissemination will be effective.
This species has great genetic variation, both in size and flavor. To my knowledge, no named variety yet, but the potential for breeding is vast.
P. nitida (called Kavunma by the natives) is without any doubt a winner.

[Mike T]

Richard a seasoned campaigner like yourself has the inside word on many species others don't get to sample. I wouldn't close the book on passionfruit or think this is the last word on which are best until I have tried a few P.nitida of course. I guess there is never a last word when it comes to Passiflora species.

[ben mango]

Some pretty big ones at the grocery markets in Colombia. For some reason I was more drawn to the grandillas

[vnomonee]

deleted

[Lovewhatis]

This quest cannot be over. Calabash for me, has the ultimate flavor and flower. The seeds have a good crunch too. There has to be others out there with a highly experiences passiflora palette to resurrect this topic.

[mcoambassador]

@mike t, any progress on obtaining seeds of the Ernie or African Good from your chum in Koah? ;-)

Also curious if you’ve (knowingly) tried Passiflora Popenovii. Not sure if that’s a new kid on the block but descriptions sound stellar.