Ecuador Passion Fruit -- copyright Herbologics, Ltd., designed by Greg Caton

Did You Know ... ?

Most people who have heard of passion fruit -- (Passiflora edulis L.: see Wikipedia article) -- know very little about it ... even many people who live and work around it here in South America.

Ecuador is known to host the most flavorful, aromatic passion fruit found anywhere in the world, which is why we manufacture its concentrate, seed oil, and pulp here. (By the way, the bright yellow fruit is the preferred variety for our passion fruit concentrate -- the green and red variations being less suitable on account of acidity, sweetness, or taste considerations).

The quality of passion fruit concentrate is based on purity, appearance, aroma, and sweetness (measured in "Degrees Brix," (°Bx), and measured on the production line with a refractometer, as you see above).

The single most widely passion fruit product at the producer level after the raw ftuit is not the juice or oil, but the fruit juice concentrate. The sweetness and strength can be adjusted by "cooking the juice down," thus evaporating the water content and bringing the remaining components to a higher concentration.

The better industrial food purchasers of passion fruit concentrate are a demanding lot, not unlike purchasers of fine wine. Good passion fruit must not only meet strict standards on moisture, sweetness, taste, and the usual microbiological standards inherent in good manufacturing practices, but an almost indescribable test as to superior essence. We meet this challenge with a passion about our passion fruit!

Welcome to EcuadorPassionFruit.com ... we are makers of passion fruit concentrate, seed oil, and fiber. The purpose of this website is to not only provide a forum to sell our products, but provide basic information about this amazing, yet under-appreciated, tropical fruit.

Processing the Fruit

Passion Fruit, which grows wild throughout the northern coastal region of Ecuador, is handpicked and brought in to our processing plant in trucks. It is either immediate processed or placed in temporary holding hoppers.

The raw fruit is rarely seen or sold in open produce markets in first world countries. (See videos one and two to view closeups of the fruit). Traditionally, the most valuable part of the fruit, in terms of commercial processing, has been the fruit juice (sold in concentrated form).

Although Ecuador Passion Fruit also sells passion fruit concentrate, an important goal of our company is to find more novel uses for the seeds, excess fiber, and hulls -- which are currently used primarily as cattle feed. (It is not uncommon to see cows fight over passion fruit, which they consider quite a treat.) The photo at left shows bulk fruit taken by conveyor from the bulk incoming station to the washing and sorting production line. (See video).

Whole fruit must be thoroughly cleaned in an antimicrobial wash before being sorted. (See videos one and two of cleaning station).

Following a thorough cleaning, the passion fruit must be sorted before it moves on to be dehulled. (See sorting video).

The fruit must then be dehulled, a process which essentially then separates the fruit into its three primary components: the outer hull, the sweet fruit juice -- which can be made to a variety of concentrate levels by simply adjusting the water content -- and the fruit seeds. Further processing allows "aromatic essence" to be produced as well, concentrating the organoleptic essence of fruit into a concentrated extract. (For the sake of brevity, not all components of these latter stages of process manufacturing are shown here).

One of the most valuable components of passion fruit is the seed oil. Rarely extracted for commercial purposes, the oil -- though high in Omega 6 oils, comparable with most grain seed oils -- has remarkable properties. Not only cows, but pets, particularly dogs, respond strongly to its aroma and flavor.

Request a Free Sample

Qualified prospects are invited to request a free sample of our products (see "Products" page).

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