It's a good thing passion fruit is delicious because the visual of gelatinous goo when it's first cut in half is not incredibly appetizing. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that giving it the name passion fruit was a
It's a good thing passion fruit is delicious because the visual of gelatinous goo when it's first cut in half is not incredibly appetizing. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that giving it the name passion fruit was a way to make the fruit more tempting to eat, but that's not the case. The history of its name goes in an entirely different direction.
How passion fruit got its name
The name has nothing to do with the fruit being an aphrodisiac. Rather, it's named after the passion, or crucifixion, of the biblical Jesus. When Spanish missionaries to South America first discovered the flowers that turned into the fruit, they saw them as symbolic of the crucifixion. Looking at the photo above, you can see why. According to Specialty Produce, missionaries saw "the three stigmas as the three nails, the corona as the crown of thorns, the five stamens as the five wounds, the five petals and five sepals as the ten apostles and the purple petals as the purple robe."
How to pick a passion fruit
Like other fruits such as watermelon, heaviness is important when choosing passion fruit. When the fruit is heavy, that means it has plenty of moisture inside. The skin of the fruit, whether it's the more common purple passion fruit or the yellow/green version, passion fruit will be wrinkly when it's ripe. If you get one with smooth skin, make sure it has a little give to it when you squeeze it. If it does, yo