The trend of drinking passion fruit tea to quench thirst when summer comes is still going strong, and many people are taking it upon themselves to buy fresh passion fruit and create their own unique drink recipes. However, passion fruit is a specialty of the South, and when transported to other regions of the country, not everyone knows how to choose the best, fresh and excellent quality fruit to make a satisfying beverage.
Passion fruit is currently in season, but it’s important to know a few tips to choose the best fruit possible.
Even people living in the South do not always have the time to go to the garden and choose the perfect passion fruit. By knowing a few tips, you can easily choose fresh and delicious passion fruit from fruit sellers.
Tips for choosing and buying delicious passion fruit
Observe the outer skin
If you want to choose delicious passion fruit, you need to observe the outer skin. This step is not absolute, but this trick helps you quickly find about 70% of the fruit that you desire.
The skin should be fresh, light yellow-green, and smooth. The spikes should be soft, with wide gaps between them. These fruits are ripe, juicy, sweet, and have fewer seeds. Peeling the skin of these fruits is very easy. With this naturally ripe passion fruit, you can make delicious teas, smoothies, or preserves. However, these fruits cannot be transported long distances as they will quickly spoil.
Choose ripe passion fruit with firm skin and soft spikes.
The dark green, hard-skinned passion fruits are still unripe. They do not have a strong and rich taste, and they may not even have a fragrant smell. Many fruits may be the same size, beautiful, but they may not be tasty yet because they are not fully ripe.
Passion fruits that are too green are able to withstand long-distance transportation, but their taste is not good, and when making drinks with them, they will have a bland taste.
Therefore, you should avoid buying passion fruits with dark green or grayish-green skins. On their body, the color is uneven. The skin of the fruit is not smooth and shiny, but rough. Since they are still green, they should not be bought.
Look at the spikes
The spikes of passion fruit are not as hard as those of durian, and they can be touched for easier identification. With fully ripe passion fruit, the spikes will be soft, large, and have wide gaps.
Sharp and hard spikes with dark green color indicate unripe fruit.
Sharp, hard, and close-knit spikes indicate that the fruit is still unripe, green, and even bitter. These fruits are often forced to ripen for sale or long-distance transportation.
In general, when buying passion fruit, it is best to choose the right season, and select fruit with shiny, light yellow skin, large and loose spikes. It may take some time, but in return, you will have a perfectly fragrant and delicious passion fruit tea.
Check the hardness and softness
Another small tip when buying passion fruit is to use your hand to gently squeeze the fruit to feel its hardness and softness. If the outer skin is too hard, it indicates that the fruit is still unripe and green. If the outer skin is too soft, it means that the fruit is overripe, prone to spoilage, and the smell will be strong.
In addition, you can lightly tap on the fruit. If it produces a loud and hollow sound, it indicates that the fruit is hollow inside, and it will not taste good.
Use your hand to press and check the level of hardness and softness of the passion fruit.
Is it necessary to choose the right season?
This is a question that many people are interested in when buying passion fruit. In general, most people know that each season has its own type of produce, which not only helps you buy fresh and nutritious products, but also tends to be cheaper. Out-of-season fruits are often at risk of containing more chemicals and preservatives.
Avoid choosing fruits like this with less flesh, prone to wrinkling, and not sweet. Choose fruits that are slender, big, and evenly bloomed.
Therefore, when buying passion fruit, you should also choose the right season. During that time, passion fruit has the best flavor and is reasonably priced. Usually, passion fruit is harvested twice a year: the best months are from May to August and from November to January of the following year. With modern technology today, passion fruit can be available all year round. Not to mention some imported varieties of passion fruit.
Passion fruit is always fresh and fragrant when it is in season.
Passion fruit that is in season will always have soft, fragrant, pure white flesh, firm fruit, and be less affected by forced ripening. Off-season passion fruit usually does not taste good, its flesh inside will be sour and dry, and the fruit will be loose and non-uniform.
Wishing you success in choosing delicious passion fruit by applying these tips!
Source: Phụ Nữ Việt Nam
