Knowing What to Look For
Recognize mature fruit by color. Avoid green passion fruit. Remember: the greener it is, the less ripened it is. This holds true for all varieties. Spot ripening fruit by changes in color. Look for fruit that has turned purple, red, and/or yellow. Expect some to be a uniform shade and others to be a mix between colors. Some fruit may actually ripen without changing color that much. If you’re growing your own and find green fruit that has fallen from the tree, judge it by other methods before discarding.
Inspect the skin’s texture. Spot unripened fruit by its smooth skin. Recognize ripe fruit by its wrinkles and dimples. Favor moderately wrinkled fruit over excessively wrinkled. Expect very wrinkled fruit to have already passed the peak of freshness.
Inspect for damage. Expect to find small cuts and spots, which is normal and generally okay on their own. Bruised fruit is also perfectly edible, just softer. However, do check bruised areas for any cuts through the skin, since the bruised fruit underneath is more at-risk to mold. Bruised or moldy portions can be trimmed from the rest. Mold that appears on the outside of intact skin can be washed away since you aren't eating the skin.
Judging by Weight and Touch
Let growing fruit fall on their own. If you are selecting fruit directly from a tree, don’t pick them. Let gravity do the work. Expect ripe fruit to fall on their own due to their increased weight. However, unripened fruit may also fall due to weather or if the tree is weak from dehydration. Double-check its ripeness by other methods before eating.
Choose heavy fruit. Weigh it in your hand. Recognize immature fruit by its lightness. Favor those that feel heavier than you would expect based on their size. A mature passion fruit should be between four and eight centimeters in diameter and weigh between 1.2 and 1.8 ounces (35 and 50 g).
Select firm fruit. Give the fruit a very gentle squeeze. The skin should give a little when pressed, but still feel firm. If it feels rock-hard fruit, consider it unripened. If it feels soft, it has passed its peak.
Ripening, Cutting, and Storing Your Passion Fruit
Ripen at room temperature. If you have fruit that is almost but not quite there yet, give it a few days to ripen further. Leave it sitting out at room temperature, away from direct sunlight. Inspect it daily so you can enjoy before it becomes too wrinkly, at which point it starts to dry out inside.
Cut it open. Do not eat the skin. Use a knife to cut open it. To eat it as is, slice off the top and use a spoon as though you were eating from a bowl. To add it as an ingredient to another dish, slice it in half so you can spoon it out more easily.
Store opened fruit in the fridge or freezer. Once you have cut it open, refrigerate or freeze your fruit to keep it from spoiling. Expect refrigerated fruit to last a week at most. For longer storage, seal it in a high-quality freezer bag and freeze it, which will preserve it up to twelve months.
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