Passion Fruit are a small, round fruit with a hard yellow or pinky purple skin. Crack it open to reveal an exotic tart sweet yellow pulp with edible dark brown/black seeds. Scoop out the sweet nectar and enjoy a deliciously unusual texture for a fruit.

 

Surprisingly, passion fruit is better riper, so select ones that are slightly soft to the touch and even slightly shriveled. If the fruit is too firm, place it in a bag and store it at room temperature to ripen until it’s ready to eat. Passion fruit is also suitable for freezing.

 

Always wash the Passion Fruit before preparing it. Cut it in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon to eat it. It can also be used to flavour drinks, ice cream, cakes, purees, jams, jellies and sauces.

 

Panna cotta, an Italian favorite, is a gorgeous dessert to eat and easy to make at home. Add a Passion Fruit syrup and you’ve got yourself a delicious and impressive dessert.

The creamy dessert is infused with vanilla and honey and then enjoyed with a tropical passion fruit syrup.

PANNA COTTA

300 ml pouring cream

260 gm (270ml) natural yogurt

4 Tbsp honey

2 3/4 titanium strength gelatine leaves (approx. 3 3/4 tsp of powdered gelatine) softened in cold water

Seeds from 1 vanilla pod

 

PASSION FRUIT SYRUP

4 passion fruit, pulp only (or canned)

50 gm castor (berry) sugar

Juice from 1/2 lime

1/4 cup water

Special equipment: 150-200 ml Dariole or panna cotta moulds

1.Very lightly grease the dariole moulds with a little vegetable oil on a paper towel.

2.Whisk the cream and yogurt together in a large bowl until smooth. Set aside.

3.Bring honey and vanilla seeds to a simmer in a small saucepan. Squeeze excess water from gelatine and add it to the honey -- stir to dissolve.

4.Stir honey mixture through the yogurt mixture, then divide among four lightly greased dariole moulds. Refrigerate until set (4-5 hours - or even overnight).

5.Make the passion fruit syrup. Combine ingredients together in a small saucepan. Simmer over a medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the liquid becomes syrupy. Set aside to cool.