They are worth growing just for the fruit! We've got an ornamental
passion flower growing up the old barn and noticed a nice ripe fruit
today. Golden colour and soft, the size of a hen's egg. The seeds were
red and sweet and came away easily in a clump away from the pod; very
tasty. Time for more to ripen yet. :-) I bet they'd go well with plain
vanilla ice cream.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

In article ,
Chris Hogg wrote:
On Thu, 04 Aug 2011 21:58:23 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

They are worth growing just for the fruit! We've got an ornamental
passion flower growing up the old barn and noticed a nice ripe fruit
today. Golden colour and soft, the size of a hen's egg. The seeds were
red and sweet and came away easily in a clump away from the pod; very
tasty. Time for more to ripen yet. :-) I bet they'd go well with plain
vanilla ice cream.

Many species of passion flower have edible fruit. Vanderplank lists
about twenty in his book on PF's. Some are tastier than others. Best
is P. edulis (The Purple Passion Fruit), grown commercially for its
fruit, as are P. quadrangularis (The Giant Granadilla) and P.
ligularis (The Sweet Granadilla). He doesn't think too much of the
only passion flower reasonably hardy in the UK (I know you're in
Normandy, but the same may apply), P. caerulea, describing it as
'insipid, slightly blackberry flavoured'. Do you know what sort you
have? If not, can you post a picture somewhere (flowers, fruit and
leaves)?

Nor do I. He's a little unfair about it, but only a little.
My P. incarnata has never set fruit, unfortunately.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 04/08/2011 22:32, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Thu, 04 Aug 2011 21:58:23 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

They are worth growing just for the fruit! We've got an ornamental
passion flower growing up the old barn and noticed a nice ripe fruit
today. Golden colour and soft, the size of a hen's egg. The seeds were
red and sweet and came away easily in a clump away from the pod; very
tasty. Time for more to ripen yet. :-) I bet they'd go well with plain
vanilla ice cream.

Many species of passion flower have edible fruit. Vanderplank lists
about twenty in his book on PF's. Some are tastier than others. Best
is P. edulis (The Purple Passion Fruit), grown commercially for its
fruit, as are P. quadrangularis (The Giant Granadilla) and P.
ligularis (The Sweet Granadilla). He doesn't think too much of the
only passion flower reasonably hardy in the UK (I know you're in
Normandy, but the same may apply), P. caerulea, describing it as
'insipid, slightly blackberry flavoured'. Do you know what sort you
have? If not, can you post a picture somewhere (flowers, fruit and
leaves)?


I've found the original label! It is Passiflora Coerulea C.

I think it is the same variety I grew back in England that also had nice
fruits on it. It seems hardy enough and has survived the last few harsh
winters without problem. Maybe it is down to individual taste-buds, but
the fruit are very much edible to me, especially when they are as ripe
and sweet as the one yesterday.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.