Passiflora edulis – passion fruit also known as parcha, lilikoi or maracuya is a plant cultivated commercially for its fruit. It is native to South America and widely grown in India, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Brazil, Southern Florida, Hawaii, Australia, East Africa, Israel and South Africa. The passion fruit is round to oval, yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. The fruit can be grown to eat or for its juice, which is often added to other fruit juices to enhance aroma.

The two types of passion fruit have greatly different exterior appearances. The bright yellow variety of passion fruit, which is also known as the golden passion fruit, can grow up to the size of a grapefruit, has a smooth, glossy, light and airy rind, and has been used as a rootstock for the purple passion fruit in Australia. The dark purple passion fruit (for example, in Kenya) is smaller than a lemon, with a dry, wrinkled rind at maturity.

Passion fruits can be eaten fresh, canned, being added to fruit salads, as the topping for cakes or ice cream, used to flavour drinks, used to make juice, jams, syrups, cordials, used for passion fruit mousse, passion fruit seeds are used to for decorating purposes or used to flavour yogurts.

Passion fruit is widely believed to lower blood pressure.

• Information source: Wikipedia.