Plant family: Passifloraceae
Plant origin: Brazil.
Fruit description: Black Passionfruit fruit are medium-sized and round, up to 7cm in diameter, and heavy with edible flesh. The thin smooth skin is not eaten. When over ripe the skin wrinkles slightly. Inside the skin is white pith with a sweet, juicy acidic, orange-coloured pulp around many edible small seeds. The aroma and flavour is distinctive and delicious, the taste is acidic, sweet, tangy, and strong. Black Passionfruit skin is coloured dark red, purple or black. Black Passionfruit like cool, warm or hot conditions and crop from Autumn to Winter.
Flowers: Black Passionfruit flowers are spectacularly beautiful, 4cm in diameter. They are purple and white with long stigmas and stamens, petals and a fringe. They are produced in Spring, Summer, and Autumn.
Growing conditions: Black Passionfruit is a fast growing evergreen vine with tendrils to climb on a trellis, wires, fence, wall or pergola, or it can be allowed to trail over a sunny bank or ledge. It can tolerate some frost but protect the young plant from frost. It likes a warm sunny position and rich, fertile, well-drained soil. Feed your passionfruit with complete fertiliser or compost and prune the mature plant in Spring to increase the amount and size of your fruit. Water it well in Summer and mulch around the vine to keep it moist. Do not allow the mulch to touch the stem or it can cause rot. They have glossy three- pointed leaves.
Uses: Black Passionfruit can be eaten fresh by cutting it in half and spooning out the sweet pulp. It is delicious in fruit salad, smoothies and in juices. It gives a lovely tangy flavour to desserts, sorbets, ice-cream, decorating a pavlova, cheesecake, or sponge cake, in baking, and icing for baked foods. It can be made into jam, jelly or a superb butter spread. You can freeze it to use out of season, or use it fresh. If preferred you can strain out the soft seeds.
Medicinal uses: Passionfruit pulp is rich in vitamins A and C, dietary fibre and potassium.
Pollination requirements: Self-Pollinating.
Harvest time Black Passionfruit usually crops in Spring, Summer, and Autumn, in warm climates it will also crop in Winter. Pick the fruit when it is fully coloured, and gives slightly when squeezed, or, when a few wrinkles appear in the skin. Ripe fruit usually falls on the ground daily when they are in season, and be collected daily and eaten.
Plant relatives Yellow Panama Passionfruit, Golden Hawaiian Passionfruit, Red Panama Passionfruit, Marquisa Passionfruit, Granadilla, Lilikoi
Special features:
Grown by method: Grafted Pot size: 100mm
Plant growing Height and Width for pots or in the ground planting: Grows 2.5 metres long if Planted in a Pot. Grows 4 metres long if Planted in the Ground.
Shipping plant pot or planter bag size: 100mm
