Passionate About Grenadilla!

 

 

Everyone who knows me knows that although I try to eat healthy and like fruit, I’m not really an apples and oranges kind of girl. I love anything that’s a bit out of the ordinary so I can’t get enough of exotic fruits. Dragon fruit, mango, lychees, rumbutans… you name it, I’ve tried it. Or so I thought… After being introduced to grenadillas by a friend this week, I tried them for the first time. “If you like passion fruit, you’ll love grenadillas,” said my friend confidently. And he wasn’t wrong. The grenadilla is indeed a relative of the delicious passion fruit and hails from South America. Whereas passion fruits have a tough purple skin, grenadillas – which are larger in size – have an inedible, shiny, orange-gold skin which appears hard at first but is actually surprisingly fragile. There is a very spongy pith before you get to the edible part of the fruit. As with passion fruit, the edible part consists of black seeds covered in a jelly-like pulp; the only differences being  that the pulp is more of a pale champagne colour and is much sweeter in flavour – almost like honey.

 

 

HOW TO PREPARE

• Grenadilla is orange and firm when it is ripe.
• Ripe grenadilla can be refrigerated for a few days.
• Cut the fruit into two halves as you would with passion fruit.
•  Scoop out the jelly-like pulp with a spoon. The skin is not to be eaten.

HOW TO EAT

• Granadilla is commonly eaten by itself but it can be cooked or juiced.
• It makes a great jelly, jam, pie filling, flan topping or cake frosting and also makes a great addition to  fruit salads.

It also has great nutritional value and is said to be  an excellent source of fibre and essential minerals, such as phosphorus, iron and calcium.  They are usually available in the spring months so now is the time to try them. You never know – it could be your new favourite fruit!

Try this recipe for  a granadilla and blood orange meringue pie – a tropical twist on the classic lemon pudding.

GRANADILLA AND BLOOD ORANGE MERINGUE PIE

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 20cm pie case

385g can of condensed milk

125ml lemon juice

5ml grated lemon rind

3 egg yolks

50ml granadilla pulp

1 Blood orange juice and rind

3 egg whites

125ml castor sugar

METHOD:

1. Combine the condensed milk, lemon and orange juices, rinds, yolks and granadilla pulp and mix well.

2. Pour into the crust.

3. Beat the egg whites until stiff then gradually beat in the castor sugar, reserving 15ml to sprinkle on top.

4. Pile the meringue on top of the filling.

5. Sprinkle with the remaining castor sugar.

6. Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes or until the meringue is light golden brown.

7. Turn off the oven and leave the pie in for another hour.

8. Remove and cool completely before serving.

9. Enjoy!