Passion Fruit Nutrition and Health Benefits
Passion fruit contains vitamin A (as beta-carotene), vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber, although it is not as nutritious as many of the “fleshier” fruits of the same size. I use passion fruit mainly for flavor in green smoothies, and not so much for the nutritional value.
Many articles on the internet claim that passion fruit helps alleviate high blood pressure, but studies have only be done using passion fruit peel extract and not the whole fruit.
How To Use Passion Fruit In A Green Smoothie
Use passion fruit as a flavor fruit and blend it with creamy base fruits like banana or mango. Passion fruit blends well with other tropical flavor fruits like pineapple, lychee and many berries. Young green or Thai coconut water or meat in a passion fruit green smoothie provides a wonderful tropical flavor note.
Passion fruits are very tart so I recommend that you do not blend them with lemon, lime or other tart fruits. I like to add up to three of them in a green smoothie to get the flavor.
Be careful when you cut passion fruits in half, as they contain a small amount of juice. Since they are small enough, you want to make sure you save all the juice you can. Cut the fruit almost in half, and then pour the juice into your blender before cutting the rest of the fruit all the way through.
Since passion fruits contain a lot of seeds, I recommend using a high-speed blender like aVitamix . You might get seed bits or a gritty texture if you use other, less powerful blenders.
Passion Fruit Smoothie Recipes
Passion Fruit-Pineapple Green Smoothie
- 1 cup pineapple, cubed
- 3 passion fruits, inner fruit only
- 1 medium banana, peeled
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach
- 8 ounces coconut water
How To Select Passion Fruit
When selecting passion fruit, select fruits that are slightly or mostly wrinkled, but that do not contain holes or dents. Passion fruits are very lightweight, but should be slightly firm and not give when you squeeze them.
It is virtually impossible to find organic passion fruits. Since I don’t eat the skin, I am not concerned about using conventionally grown fruits on occasion.
