Summer vacation is on, the sun is shining overhead and the children have declared they are going to make this vacation a memorable one. Everybody is out there on the playground with their cricketing gear chasing the passionate dream of emulating Sachin Tendulkar and nothing is going to stop them from achieving it this summer, not even the scorching sun. While dad feels proud seeing his kid shaping in right direction, mom is getting tense for the fear that her child may get dehydrated. She did add a bottle full of nourishing drink fortified with glucose, vitamins and essential salts to the kit bag, but her Sachin in the making seldom drinks it because he does not like the same drink everyday. Though he enjoys playing cricket everyday, but would not gulp the same drink daily. At the end of the day her child returns home all exhausted. A refreshing drink would charge him up, but how could mom find a new drink every day! If this is the case with your kid, the answer lies in trying the lesser known passionfruit drink. Its nourishing and your kid will like its unique tangy taste. Passion fruit vine is a shallow rooted, woody fast growing

The yellow variety is ideally suited for growing in island

perennial climber grown in the tropical and sub tropical

conditions. My wife has been growing passion fruit for the

region. The vine has large three lobed leaves and little

last three years in the little space below the sunshade of our

tendrils that wrap themselves around whatever they can get

house at Shore Point. We had good harvest last year. The

hold of. The fruit is nearly round or ovoid in shape, about the

current harvest is just getting ready around this time.

size of a tennis ball or a little larger. It has a tough, smooth, shiny and waxy outer covering with a greenish hue which turns light yellow or purple when ripe. The fruit cavity is filled with an aromatic mass of double walled membranous sacs containing orange-colored pulpy juice and has as many as 250 small

hard dark brown or black pitted seeds. The flavor is

musky, guava-like and sweet to tart is unique and appealing. Of the estimated 500 species of passion fruit there are two distinct forms within the species; Purple (Passiflora edulis) and Yellow (Passiflora edulis flavicarpa)

also known as golden or

tropical passionfruit. Numerous hybrids have been made between the purple and the yellow varieties yielding colors and other characteristic intermediate between the two forms.

To prepare a drink one need to cut the fruit in half lengthwise and scoop out the pulp with a spoon and squeeze through cheesecloth or press through a strainer to remove the seeds. The resulting rich juice concentrate, can be sweetened and diluted with water or other juices (orange or pineapple). Fresh passion fruit is high in beta carotene, potassium, dietary fiber and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). The fruit is also known for its medicinal properties. Its leaves contain alkaloids including Harman which has blood pressure lowering, sedative and antispasmodic action. The flower having mild sedative is used in the treatment of nervousness, bronchial

asthma,

insomnia,

nervous

gastrointestinal

disorders, menopausal problems etc. The juice is

In India, purple passion fruit had been grown in the Nilgiris in

recommended for people having high blood pressure.

the south and in various parts of northern India. The yellow

Researchers at the University of Florida had found

variety introduced from erstwhile Ceylon has fruits larger than

carotenoids and polyphenols in yellow passion fruit can kill

the purple, but the pulp of the purple variety is less acidic,

cancer cells. The wonder fruit however is yet to make it to

richer in aroma, flavor and has a higher proportion of juice.

our market. Whereas cultivation is largely done as a hobby!