# I lost my passion!



## deboard (Aug 3, 2010)

A while back I posted about finding a bottle of something called "Passion Juice"" at a local asian store. This is the thread if you need to remember:
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5500

Anyways, that wine has been a huge hit, and I only made a 1 gallon batch. So I decided to go back and make a larger batch. I went to the same asian grocery store and looked for it, but I couldn't find it! I asked the owner, who, after getting several customers to help translate, finally told me they don't have it anymore. He kinda looked at me like I was crazy to tell the truth, I should have taken the picture with me. 

So I went to a couple other asian stores in town, no luck, no one has even heard of it, or so they tell me. (maybe it's a conspiracy) 

So, why I created this thread is to ask for suggestions on another source of passion fruit juice. I found a couple of syrups, which had some pretty nasty ingredients, including one that had no passion fruit juice in it! I see Dole or Welch's has a passion fruit cocktail, but I'm not sure if that will work. 

Any ideas?


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## Wade E (Aug 3, 2010)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...e=395165&creativeASIN=B003KPSJFU&linkCode=asm

http://www.amazon.com/Culinary-Traditions-Passion-Fruit-Concentrate/dp/B0001T2L5M

http://www.divafruitgroup.com/products.html


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## deboard (Aug 4, 2010)

I saw the first two on amazon, they look promising, but that's a pretty big price jump vs my 4.99 per jar passion juice. The last one I had not seen, but it looks pretty good, no prices I could find though, which may be a bad sign!

If I can find the 100% juice Welch's concentrate and not the cocktail, I may try it, I've never seen it around here though.


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## deboard (Aug 6, 2010)

OK, I found this one which looks promising, I thought I'd run it by the forum since it has sodium benzoate as a preservative. Is that a deal breaker for fermentation?

http://www.veryasia.com/100021.html


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## Tom (Aug 6, 2010)

I got Apple Peach Passion Fruit juice from COSTCO (2-96oz per price so U need 4 2-paks). That makes great wine. They dont carry this all year so keep checking.


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## Wade E (Aug 6, 2010)

Id pm Luc on the benzoate as I believe he knows something more about this substance and how to beat it. Im pretty sure it works like sorbate which can top the multiplying of the yeast. Let us know what you find out please.


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## deboard (Aug 7, 2010)

From what I've found on it so far, it will be tough to beat it. I'm still in the hunt for some suitable passion fruit syrup, but for now I have contented myself by going to the mexican grocery store and buying some quava juice. Somewhat similar to passion fruit, maybe not quite as strong though. I'll be starting it today.


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## deboard (Feb 5, 2011)

OK, I'm resurrecting an old thread, but it's relevant I think. 

I did find a good source for passion fruit syrup, while I was in hawaii. They have a website and I ended up ordering 6 jars of passion fruit syrup. I also brought 3 back with me, so I have 9. The syrup tastes great, and I just started a new batch of wine:

http://www.auntylilikoi.com/


I ended up deciding to make a passion fruit riesling using a can of riesling concentrate, shooting for a 3 gallon batch. I used 6 jars of the passion fruit syrup and a can of alexander's riesling. 

The 1st very nice thing is that I checked the SG and without any additional sugar it is about 1.088, which is slightly higher than I wanted but I can live with it. I will be backsweetening to semi-sweet so the alcohol will go down some in the end. This is with approximately 3.75 gallons of must, I always make a little extra for top-up. 

The next very nice thing is that I checked the acid and it was slightly higher than 0.65, and I am ok with that. If I do any adjustment I've decided to do it later. pH is 3.6. 

So, all in all an easy winemaking experience. So far at least. I haven't actually pitched yeast, I'll be doing that in a couple of hours.


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## mayberry (Feb 5, 2011)

Saw frozen passionfruit pulp in the freezer at my local grocer yesterday for 2.99/lb. I only noticed it because I thought it was weird, but intriguing.


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## deboard (Feb 5, 2011)

That's a pretty good price. You'd almost certainly need to add sugar using pulp, but that's pretty cheap as well. Passion fruit gives a nice tropical flavor and ends up being a pretty easy drinking, summer kind of wine. I have made it mixed with Welch's Red concord concentrate before, and that turned out really good. One of the few that I've made that my wife actually likes.


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## Wade E (Feb 5, 2011)

Congrats on the find and hope it turns out great!


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## deboard (Feb 5, 2011)

Thanks, I have high hopes for passion fruit riesling. It sounds like it has to be good, but I'll try to remember to give an update once it's done.


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## roadwarriorsvt (Feb 9, 2011)

Deboard, I just found this site yesterday and stumbled across this thread. I've been living on Oahu for 23 years, originally from GA. Let me know if you need help getting passion fruit. I'm a newb to winemaking myself. I'll bet you'd enjoy Lychee wine. I made 5 gallons last year. Planning on making mango this year. Let me know if I can help. Tommy


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## Runningwolf (Feb 9, 2011)

Tommy, Welcome to the forum! It will be quiet interesting to see what your making. How about going to the introductions thread and telling us a bit about yourself and what your doing.


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## roadwarriorsvt (Feb 9, 2011)

Sounds good Dan. Will do.


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## deboard (Feb 10, 2011)

Thanks roadwarrior, I saw your introduction thread and replied to that before I saw this, so ignore the what island question! I do love tropical flavors in wine, and I'm particularly partial to passion fruit. I've had lychee fruit before, and I like it as well. I will have to investigate some lychee wine!


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## deboard (May 22, 2011)

Just an update: 

Just racked the passion fruit riesling, and I got to taste just a bit, and it's really nice, and that was not even backsweetened. It really retains that passion fruit flavor that I love. It's going to be great chilled!

Also, I thought I updated this thread with where I finally found passion fruit syrup, but I don't see that post. Anyways, there's a small shop in hawaii that will ship it to you, and their stuff is fantastic and the people are very nice as well:
http://www.auntylilikoi.com/


Hopefully not more than a month or so till bottling time.


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## Wade E (May 22, 2011)

So how many of these would you use per a 1 gallon batch?


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## deboard (May 22, 2011)

I used approximately 1.5 bottles/gallon since I started out with 4 gallons. I initially thought there would be a lot of haze, so I allowed for several rackings. In the end it cleared fairly quickly, but I did save a bottle of syrup to backsweeten, and that will add some rackings. It looks like I calculated fairly well since I have 1 bottle of top up left. I may get to bottle that top up as either a full bottle or at least a 375ml. 

here is my recipe:

Passion Fruit Riesling
3.5-4 gallon batch

1 can Alexander’s Riesling concentrate
~60 oz passion fruit syrup. (6 total jars)
water to ~4 gallons
½ tsp wine tannin
⅛ tsp k-meta
2 tsp pectic enzyme
4 tsp yeast nutrient
SG was 1.088 no more sugar needed (measure!)
acid was 0.65%, no acid adjustment necessary (measure!)

The SG and acid % worked out nearly perfectly on mine, but I do suggest measuring just in case.


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## deboard (May 22, 2011)

Something weird happened and my reply to Wade's post ended up above my last post!


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## roadwarriorsvt (May 23, 2011)

deboard, good to see you back on the board. I made a 5 gallon batch of lilikoi (passion fruit) wine using Hawaiian Sun brand frozen concentrate. I backsweetened with a jar of Aunty Lilikoi's syrup I happened to find in the cabinet. Where do you get the Alexanders Rieseling concentrate? I may just have to make a 3 gallon batch of that as well.


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## deboard (May 23, 2011)

I buy it online, you can get it from some of the board's fine sponsors like midwest or maybe finevinewines as well. It doesn't have to be Alexander's I suppose, that's what I used though.


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## reefman (May 31, 2011)

Aunty Lilikoi lists both sweetened and unsweetened Passion Fruit Syrup, which did you use?


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## reefman (May 31, 2011)

roadwarriorsvt said:


> deboard, good to see you back on the board. I made a 5 gallon batch of lilikoi (passion fruit) wine using Hawaiian Sun brand frozen concentrate. I backsweetened with a jar of Aunty Lilikoi's syrup I happened to find in the cabinet. Where do you get the Alexanders Rieseling concentrate? I may just have to make a 3 gallon batch of that as well.



Here's a link to the Alexanders Riesling concentrate. They sell two varieties:
http://www.eckraus.com/index.php?page=2&deptid=11&parentid=28&itemsperpage=10


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## roadwarriorsvt (May 31, 2011)

Thanks for the link. That will definitely be a future project!


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## deboard (May 31, 2011)

reefman said:


> Aunty Lilikoi lists both sweetened and unsweetened Passion Fruit Syrup, which did you use?



I used the sweetened one, it worked out pretty well that I didn't have to add extra sugar. But if you had the unsweetened that should work as well, you'll just need to add sugar.


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## roadwarriorsvt (Jun 1, 2011)

If they wanna charge an arm & a leg for shipping, I can pick up the syrup and stuff them in a USPS Flate Rate box for ya.


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## Mike93YJ (Jun 5, 2011)

I wonder if puree would work?

http://www.lepicerie.com/customer/product.php?productid=272900&cat=287&page=2


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