Passionate maracuya

Maracuyá, or passion fruit is the ingredient of the week in Peru Delights. Like most Peruvians, we love the acidic flavor and floral fragrance of this fruit, and its flower is one of the most beautiful things we’ve seen. This is not a taste to be enjoyed on its own because of its intensity, but it’s ideal to have in juices, nectars, desserts, and sweet and savory sauces.

The variety of passion fruit we find in Peruvian markets is yellow, and heavy for its size because the pulp is full of seeds and juice. Buy them when they are plump and the skin is starting to show wrinkles. To juice the fruit, first strain the seeds by pressing the pulp with a spoon to release the liquid, or you can also process it in the blender with a couple of quick pulses to avoid grounding the seeds.

We use the juice of maracuyá to make mousse, cheesecake, maracuyá sour, maracuyá refreshment, maracuyá cebiche or tiradito, and many other things. When you boil the fruit (peel and all), and then process everything in the blender with sugar, you will have a delicious and not so strong nectar.

Maracuyás, granadillas, and tumbos belong to the same family, but they have different flavors and intensities, especially granadillas, which are sweet and mild, as opposed to its acidic siblings.