How to Strain Passion Fruit

I can’t believe that I was 34 when I learned the easy way to strain passion fruit. Thanks to my older sister Sandy who taught me this trick.

First, make sure you are wearing food preparation gloves. The acid of the passion fruit will eventually irritate your skin. Wash the passion fruits thoroughly to get rid of dirt and dust. Then you cut open the passion fruit toward the end without the stem, just a sliver. Do not cut it in half as the juice will spill out and make a mess. Making a small cut at the tip will keep most of the pulp inside the fruit.

Then all you need to do is use a spoon to scoop the pulp out with a swivel motion.

Fresh passion fruit is such a delightful treat to have. Unfortunately, the seeds are not digestible and can lead to unpleasant textures in whatever you are making. I know that some recipes leave the seeds in because they look cute, but from a practical point of view, you will want to remove the seeds from the flesh. They are very hard and not pleasant to bite into. The problem is that the flesh is very sticky and grabs tightly onto the seed.

So what’s the secret to easily strain passion fruit?

Use a blender on its lowest setting. Blend the passion fruit pulp for about 30 seconds on the lowest setting to break up the membrane of the passion fruit. You want to loosen up the flesh but still keep the seeds intact. We don’t want any seed particles in the passion fruit juice.

After that, use a fine mesh sieve to strain the passion fruit. Use a rubber spatula to help move the seeds around to help pass the passion fruit juice through.

Without the blender trick, it would take forever to strain passion fruit.

Strained passion fruit juice can be stored in the freezer for several months. Simply place into ice cube trays. When they are frozen solid, insert the passion fruit juice cubes into an airtight bag. Defrost when ready to use.

Now that your passion fruit is strained and ready to use, go ahead and check out my passion fruit panna cotta recipe.