The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-19
PASSION FRUIT.
An Australian Product obtainabIe
Ali the Year Round.

handed me a dish heaped up with dark
purple globes mo. sir: passion fruit.
sir" replied the steward l glanced in
quiringly at my vis-a-vis. an Austria
liam girl Don't you know passion
fruit?" she said. Then this is one of
the great days of your life" How
many passion fruit must / take to
make Il really great?"I asked. Well,
say half a dozen: and then the stew
ard had better put the plate out of
your reach, for after you have tasted
the first one you will want to take all
the rest
So l helped myself to half a dozen.
says a writer in the London Telegraph,
and found that the dark purple skin
which had suggested plums at first
sight was in reality hard rind. Then,
Initiating my fair instructress, 1 cut
the top off with a knife, as if one were
performing a similar operation on an
egg: and l had in hand a natural cup,
filled with a greenish yellow pulp, in
which were number of fattish circu-
lar seeds And now?" | queried.
well. there are lots of ways of eat
ing passion fruit" she said, but you
had better start with them au naturel.
Just dip in your spoon and begin. and
tell me what it tastes like" With
something of the emotion of an ex-
plorer entering upon a new country,
l put the luscious spoonful to my
mouth. closed my eyes and tasted rap
turously.
well, the fiavor?'' l opened my eyes
and replied unhesitatingly. why, it's
gooseberry-no, raspberry-er, let's
see"-another spoonful-"Oh. that's
pineapple-or currant-or is it straw
berry? Hang it, [ don't know! What
lie. 4 . IL
said. I've been curious to learn what
you would say; for if you had been
able to make up your mind what pas
sion fruit tastes like you would have
been the first person / ever met that
could:'' And so / found it; passion
fruit suggests in turn each of your ia
vorite fruit, without committing
itself definitely TO any one of them.
But its elusive flavor is none the less
one of the most delicious / have tast-
ed and | gave myself up to its de-
lights without seeking further to dag
nose it.
This introduction to passion fruit
| took place on a liner on the Australia
coast. The question 1 . Immediately
put to myself was. why have we not
this delicious fruit in England?"
made inquiries, and l was informed
that ii would not stand the sea voy-
age. L was further told an anecdote
to the effect that Queen Victoria had
great desire to taste all the fruits of
her empire, and that her wish had
been gratified in regard TO all but the
passion fruit. which it had been found
impossible to convey home in good
condition. / am not at all prepared to
vOuch for the correctness of this as
sertion. on the contrary, | am much
inclined to question 1t. And in any
case, IL seems likely that the street
boy of today may be able to enjoy a
luxury that. according 10 the story,
was denied to his sovereign. For in the
Orotava has been sent to England a
consignment of passion fruit with
view TO testing the possibilities of
trade. And if the venture proves sat-
isfactory / viii take upon myself to
prophesy that in the course of a year
or two the London public will be read
lily able to procure this charming fruit,
and that in a year % two longer the
coster will be selling il from his bar
row.
For unquestionabl bly, it is a most de-
lectable fruit and will capture the
public taste. The only essential factor
is that it should be cheap. l have been
told-but l am by no means confident
of the accuracy of the statement
Obtainable from the fashionable West
End fruiterers. If this is so, il must
have been at prices quite prohibitive
TO the general public. / have myself
bought them at twelve a penny, though
these were rather poor in quality
Nevertheless. six a penny is a COM
mon price, and at four a Denny-one
can buy first-class passion fruit in
most of the towns of Australia Now
this is a trade which has been very
little worked up. If there were a
large export demand it can hardly be
doubted that passion fruit could be
grown exceedingly cheaply. The vine
is very prolific Many people grow 1t
as creeper over their verandas. and
its pretty flower is a lovely harbinger
of the fruit that soon after loads its
twining limbs. Freight should not be
a very important factor when large
shipments are concerned - witness
what has been accomplished in the
case of bananas. And I feel confident
that if the trade is worked up it should
not be long before passion fruit at
four penny are on sale on the cos
ters' barrows of London.
In New South Wales passion fruit
appears TO be ObtainabIe all the year
round. though in the winter months
they are less plentiful and more ex-
pensive-up to sixDence q, dozen. The
winter supply probably BONES from
North Queensland or Fiji lin summer
of course, the fruit would be most
welcome i'm England. On a sultry dav
nothing could be more refreshing than
some passion fruit. 1t has usually a
slightly acid taste. so that most peo-
pie prefer TO eat il with powdered SUI
gar. Epicures say that it is best with
a little port wine put in the fruit be
fore II is taken with the spoon ont of
its natural cup. This is certainly 2
most seductive way of consuming il
RAN dozen passion fruit emptied on
plate and mixed with sugar and
cream make a dish for a gourmet. To
a fruit salad passion fruits adds
charming flavor, but for this purpose
1t should be passed through a strainer
to separate the pulp from the seeds
winch are hard, and are not altogether
grateful when encountered by the
teeth In process of nasticating some
of the other cOmponents of the salad
For claret and champagne cups and