Passion Fruit

Above, left, a passion fruit (Passiflora edulis), right, a water lemon (Passiflora laurifolia).

I tasted my first passion fruit during my first trip to Guadeloupe. Before that, I had only known passion fruit as an artificial flavor, like the way most city kids - myself included - know the taste of blue and red before they've ever had real blueberries or cherries.

Passion fruit (fruit de la passion in French, but known locally as maracudja after the Spanish name) are quite common on the island, found in backyard plots, or its vines running along a roadside fence. For those who do not have their own passion fruit vine, or who do not benefit from friendly relations with neighbors who do, passion fruit are also sold in local markets and sometimes even in supermarkets. There are also a range of food products with passion fruit derivatives, such as passion fruit-flavored yogurt, passion fruit juice, or passion fruit mousse tortes at the patisseries.

Far less common is the water lemon (pomme liane in French), another variety of passion fruit from the genus passiflora. This water lemon was purchased at the market in Basse Terre from a woman from Dominica who specializes in selling native fruit.

Passion fruits and water lemons are quite similar. The passion fruit is round to oval in form with an airy foam-like rind and a very smooth light yellow skin. The water lemon is round to ovoid in form with three distinct sides with an airy foam-like rind and flocked goldenrod-colored skin.

Above, left to right, a passion fruit and a pomme liane, both cut in half.

Inside both fruits, a mass of small black seeds encased in thin sack of juice. At first glance, it is not convincingly appetizing, the insides resembling embryonic creatures - tadpoles, maybe - , something vaguely sinister.

Above, a close-up of, top, passion fruit seeds, and, bottom, water lemon seeds.

The difference in flavor is advertised by the difference in color. Passion fruits are tart, acidic. Water lemons - in opposition to its name - are sweet, floral like roses. Because I like my fruit to be sweet but sharp I prefer the taste of passion fruits. I dislike water lemons for the same reason I dislike Turkish delight - I don't eat soap. M. happens to love water lemons precisely for its less aggressive flavor and so keeps the woman at the market in a steady business.