Passion fruit are dark purple on the outside, with a golden yellow center of jellylike pulp made of edible black seeds inside.

It might seem counterintuitive, but you can tell that a passion fruit is ripe when the deep purple skin begins to show some wrinkling. Passion fruit gets a little wrinkly when it’s ripe, and that’s when passion fruit are the most juicy and delicious! Just don’t let them go too far; you don’t want to confuse your passion fruit for a big ol’ raisin. At that point, over wrinkled passion fruit are just plain dried out.

We recommend refrigerating your passion fruit once they’re ripe so that they’ll stay delicious for longer.

Unripened passion fruit is quite smooth and dark purple on the outside and should have clean skin with few or no blemishes.

Passion fruit are easy to use in countless recipes for snacks, meals, sweets, sauces and drinks. This versatile fruit is about to become your go-to kitchen hack for adding a punch of unexpected tropical flavor to just about everything.

Passion fruit is used in desserts and pastries to add golden color and tropical flavor. It’s delicious when added to juices and smoothies, or to simply enhance your water with tart tropical flavor.

Because of its tart acidity, passion fruit is perfect to use in salads, salad dressings and marinades.

Passion fruit works beautifully in savory dishes. You’ll find passion fruit used in recipes for sauces, salsas, seafood, and meats for added brightness in color and flavor.

The beautiful passion fruit pulp is delicious in drinks and smoothies too. You can even spoon passion fruit pulp into your water for added refreshment.

Passion fruit is easy to cut and peel, and offers up about 2-3 tablespoons of sweet-tart pulp.

Using a sharp knife, slice the fruit in half lengthwise. Then scoop out the seeds with a spoon (or eat them straight from the rind) to enjoy.

Many passion fruit lovers use their fingers to peel it open! Simply apply gentle pressure with your thumbs to open up the passion fruit and pull apart into halves. Spoon out the bright, juicy passion fruit pulp over some greek yogurt or eat it straight out of the rind!

You can separate passion fruit seeds from the pulp to make a puree as well. Strain the passion fruit pulp by pushing it through a fine mesh sieve with a rubber spatula.

Not only is passion fruit beautiful, it’s packed with nutritional benefits. Passion fruit is a great source of vitamin A, vitamin C and fiber. Here are the nutrition facts for one passion fruit:

• Calories: 17
• Total Fat: 0.1 g
• Saturated Fat: < 0.1 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat: < 0.1 g
• Monounsaturated Fat: < 0.1 g
• Cholesterol: 0 mg
• Sodium: 5 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 4.2 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.9 g
• Sugars: 2 g
• Protein: 0.4 g
• Calcium: 2 mg
• Potassium: 63 mg
• Iron: < 1 mg
• Vitamin A: 229 mg
• Vitamin C: 5 mg

Passion fruit pulp has a sweet and tart tropical flavor. Passion fruit texture is both juicy and crunchy because of its black edible seeds. Ripe passion fruit is known to be wonderfully fragrant with a musky sweet aroma reminiscent of guava.

The Countertop:

Passion fruit can be stored on your countertop to ripen. You’ll know they’re ripe when the passion fruit’s skin begins to get slightly wrinkled or dimpled. Do not cut into your passion fruit until you’re ready to eat them.

Refrigerated:

Once ripened, refrigerate passion fruits to keep them fresh for up to two weeks. Leftover passion fruit can be placed in a sealed container and refrigerated for up to two days. But passion fruit is so small that we think you should just knock it back instead!

Frozen:

Freezing passion fruit is a great option if you want to keep these tropical fruits fresher, longer. It’s best to freeze passion fruit pulp, not the whole fruit. To freeze, first scoop the passion fruit pulp from its peel and place into a freezer safe container.

For easier use later, you can also freeze passion fruit pulp in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop out the cubes of passion fruit and store in a freezer safe container to keep it from taking on any unintended freezer flavors.

No, sadly dogs likely cannot eat passion fruit. Sharing fruit with your pupper is one of life’s greatest joys, but we think this one is best left for the humans. The main reason is that there isn’t a lot of information about whether passion fruit seeds are toxic to pets. Always consult your veterinarian before introducing new fruits into your pet’s diet.

If you get a passion fruit stain on your clothing, table cloth or napkins, first treat the spot with a stain remover (don’t forget to spot treat in an inconspicuous place to ensure that it's safe for your fabric). Follow the treatment directions on your stain remover. Pop your clothing into the washer as soon as you can to avoid a stain.

If you like bright, tropical fruit flavors then passion fruit is a must-try. It’s a popular flavor in fruit punch, but definitely doesn’t taste like “red”. It’s tart, sweet and juicy with a heady tropical fragrance that’s reminiscent of guava. The texture is crunchy and slightly jellylike because of the juicy sacs surrounding the edible black passion fruit seeds. Let us know what your first reaction to passion fruit is by tagging us @Fruitstandcom on Instagram!

Once ripe, passion fruit should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator to keep them fresh and smelling good.