Fruit syrup
Passion Fruit Syrup
Raw passion fruit pulp whisked into a rich syrup, never boiled. The tropical punch behind the Hurricane.
- 38 min total
- 1¾ cups420 ml
- Keeps 1 week
Quick answer
Passion fruit syrup is strained passion fruit pulp mixed into rich simple syrup without cooking the fruit. Dissolve 1 cup sugar in ½ cup hot water, let it cool, whisk in ¾ cup strained passion fruit pulp or thawed frozen pulp, and refrigerate for up to 10 days.
Passion fruit's perfume is fragile, and boiling the pulp cooks it away. The tiki-bar approach works better: make a rich syrup, let it cool, then whisk in raw strained pulp. You get the full sweet-sour tropical hit, and the extra sugar tames the fruit's sharp acidity.
Fresh fruit is wonderful but pricey, since you need a lot of it. Frozen unsweetened passion fruit pulp, sold in many supermarket freezer aisles, is a perfectly good shortcut.
Tastestropicaltartperfumed
The recipe
Passion Fruit Syrup
Ingredients for 1¾ cups420 ml
You’ll need: small saucepan, immersion blender, fine-mesh strainer, squeeze bottle, ice cube traysmall saucepan, immersion blender, fine-mesh strainer, squeeze bottle, ice cube tray
Method
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Make a rich syrup
Warm the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until completely clear, about 3 minutes.
1 cup200 g granulated sugar½ cup120 ml water
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Cool
Take it off the heat and let it cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Prepare the fruit while you wait. Hot syrup would cook off the passion fruit's aroma.
¾ cup180 ml passion fruit pulp
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Loosen the pulp
Halve the passion fruit and scoop the pulp into a jar or tall cup. Pulse 3–4 times with an immersion blender, or stir hard with a fork, to free the juice from the seeds without smashing them.
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Strain
Press the pulp through a fine-mesh strainer with the back of a spoon until only fairly dry black seeds remain. Thawed frozen pulp just needs a quick strain if it contains seeds.
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Combine and bottle
Whisk the strained pulp into the cooled syrup, funnel into a clean bottle and refrigerate. Some settling is normal; shake before using.
Storage. Because the fruit is raw, keep it refrigerated and use it within 10 days, shaking before each use. Freeze extra in ice-cube trays for up to 3 months, which is the best way to stockpile passion fruit season.
Per 1 tbsp (15 ml): about 28 kcal, 7.1 g sugar (estimate).
How to use it
Hurricane
2 oz (60 ml) dark rum, 1 oz (30 ml) passion fruit syrup and 1 oz (30 ml) lemon juice. Shake with ice and strain over crushed ice in a tall glass.
Full recipe and historyPornstar Martini
1½ oz (45 ml) vanilla vodka, 1 oz (30 ml) passion fruit syrup and ½ oz (15 ml) lime juice. Shake, strain into a coupe, float half a passion fruit and serve with a 2 oz (60 ml) shot of prosecco on the side.
Full recipe and historyPassion fruit margarita
2 oz (60 ml) blanco tequila, 1 oz (30 ml) lime juice and ¾ oz (22 ml) passion fruit syrup, shaken and strained over ice.
Passion fruit soda
1 oz (30 ml) syrup in 6 oz (180 ml) sparkling water over ice with a lime wedge.
Passion fruit iced tea
1 oz (30 ml) per 8 oz (240 ml) glass of iced green or black tea, or stirred into lemonade.
Desserts
Spoon over Greek yogurt, pavlova, cheesecake or vanilla ice cream.
Classic drinks with Passion Fruit syrup
Gear for this recipe
KitchenAid Variable Speed Corded Hand Blender (KHBV53)
Purée fruit syrups or blend orgeat right in the pot, no pouring hot liquid into a blender. Variable speed limits splatter.
Best for Fruit purées and orgeat
OXO Good Grips Chef's Squeeze Bottles (12 oz + 16 oz)
Best for Sauces, drizzles and latte art
W&P Peak Silicone Ice Cube Tray
Best for Freezing syrup portions
Cuisinart Fine Mesh Stainless Strainers (set of 3)
Best for Every infused or fruit syrup
More gear for this recipe (1)
Cuisinart Chef's Classic 1.5 qt Stainless Saucepan with Lid
Best for Every stovetop syrup
Tips for the best batch
- Choose passion fruit that feel heavy and look deeply colored and wrinkled. Smooth ones are underripe and very sour.
- Keep the blending to a few short pulses. Smashed seeds make the syrup gritty and give it a bitter edge.
- Frozen pulp varies in tartness between brands. Taste and stir in up to 2 tablespoons more sugar if it's very sharp.
- Like the look of the seeds? Stir a teaspoon back into a bottle you'll use on desserts, and keep the cocktail bottle seed-free.
Variations
Cooked passion fruit syrup
For longer keeping, simmer the strained pulp with the sugar and water for 3 minutes. It tastes a little jammier but keeps up to 3 weeks.
Passion fruit-vanilla
Add the seeds of half a vanilla bean to the warm syrup before it cools. Made for the Pornstar Martini.
Demerara passion fruit
Use demerara sugar for a caramel note that suits aged rum and tiki drinks.
Questions people ask
Can I use frozen passion fruit pulp?
Yes. Thawed frozen unsweetened pulp (often labeled maracuyá or parchita) works perfectly and costs far less than fresh fruit. If it's sweetened, cut the sugar to taste.
Do you strain the seeds out of passion fruit syrup?
For cocktails, yes; seeds clog jiggers and strainers. They're edible, so leave a few in for desserts if you like the look and crunch.
Why isn't the passion fruit cooked?
Heat drives off the aroma that makes passion fruit taste tropical. Mixing raw pulp into cooled syrup keeps it intact. The trade-off is a shorter fridge life of about 10 days.
How many passion fruit do I need?
Roughly 10–14 ripe fruit for ¾ cup (180 ml) of strained pulp, depending on their size and juiciness.
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