Passion Fruit

Colombians love drinking fruit juice. The first time I went out to eat here, I was surprised at how many people ordered juice with their dinner. In addition to ordering plain fresh-squeezed juice, you can also have it blended with crushed ice or with crushed ice and milk.

There are a ton of fresh fruits here so I haven't made my way through all of the juice options yet, but my new favorite is passion fruit juice. I've even made it myself at home. They sell two types of passion fruit: maracuya (which is the larger yellow one in the picture below) and granadilla (the smaller orange-ish ones). The maracuya is quite tart, which I like, and the granadilla is a bit sweeter.

 

 

To make your own juice, you scoop the pulp and seeds out of the fruit, put them into the blender with a some water, and pulse a few times. This will separate the seeds from the juice. Then you pour it through a sieve and into a glass.

A fun fact about passion fruit: the "passion" in its name comes from the Catholic passion of Christ. When Spanish missionaries came across the passion fruit plants, they used the parts of the flowers on the plants to symbolize various elements surrounding Jesus's crucifixion.