Passionfruit - Sydney Morning Herald

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Cut some fully ripe passionfruit and the fragrance will fill a room. Just as striking as its perfume is the passionfruit's unusual flower. And it's the flower that has given rise to the fruit's name. When Spanish missionaries were busy bringing Christianity to South America, they used the flower to explain the Passion or Crucifixion to those they had come to convert.

Passion and gusto are both part of the experience when eating this lightly tart, lightly sweet fruit straight out of its skin. But passionfruit's piercing flavour can be put to good use in desserts and pastries of all types. Cream is a natural partner and bavarois or its more fashionable equivalent, panna cotta, are delicious flavoured with passionfruit.

Crisp, buttery puff pastry rectangles layered with thick pastry cream and fresh passionfruit pulp is a classic combination, the fruit's tanginess providing contrast and colour to this rich dessert. For a simpler dish, spoon some fresh passionfruit pulp over a few scoops of good vanilla ice-cream. Yoghurt and passionfruit is perhaps one of the healthiest breakfasts but, once in a while, try passionfruit with hot pancakes, fresh whipped cream and maple syrup.

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Choose passionfruit that feels heavy. Its skin should be dark and slightly wrinkled - too wrinkled is a sign it may be past its best.

Passionfruit goes with

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Cream; mascarpone; ice-cream; custard; yoghurt; coconut milk; meringue; banana; mango; papaya; oranges; mandarins; custard apple; watermelon; vanilla; brandy; rum; grappa; orange liqueurs; sugar; honey; orange and lemon peel; pastry, especially puff and shortcrust.

Passionfruit cream tartlets (pictured)

Prepare some sweet, shortcrust pastry. Line as many 8cm wide tartlet cases and bake the shells (often these shells can be bought from a good deli or kitchen shop).

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To make the cream, beat 2 egg whites in a bowl till they form soft peaks. Slowly adding 100g of caster sugar until firm, shiny peaks form.

To this add 200g of mascarpone and fold in until the resulting mixture is light and fluffy.

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Once the tart shells have cooled, fill them with the cream.

Spoon the fresh pulp of 2 passionfruit on each tart and serve.

Tapioca with passionfruit caramel

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I first had this dessert at Gramercy Tavern in New York some years ago. This simplified version is adapted from a recipe by Gramercy's pastry chef, Claudia Fleming.

For the passionfruit caramel, place a quarter cup of water in a small saucepan. Add a cup of sugar and a teaspoon of light corn syrup and simmer till the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat and boil the mixture until it caramelises and turns deep amber.

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Remove from the heat and whisk in carefully (the caramel may spatter) half a cup of fresh passionfruit juice and 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter.

Transfer to a small bowl and let cool for an hour.

Prepare tapioca with half milk, half coconut milk (not cream) and a little sugar. When ready, mix the passionfruit caramel with the fresh pulp of 2 passionfruit and spoon over the cooled tapioca.

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