Passion fruit wine - has anyone made it from the actual fruit?

[wildhair]

I have a single, large 2 yr. old passion fruit vine. Living in WI, it has come into the house for the winter where the fruit can ripen. And there seems to be a lot of fruit. There are not a lot of recipes out there for Passion Fruit Wine using THE ACTUAL FRUIT. I did find a couple on Jack Keller's site and that's where my Q come's in - since he's not real active right now - I thought I'd try picking the brains here.

For a 1 gallon batch - He calls for 4# or 5 # of passion fruit & "Chop fruit coarsely and place in nylon straining bag, saving any juice that emits during chopping. Tie bag and place with juice in primary. "

So I assume he means the WHOLE fruit - but the outside is just a hard, thin wrinkled shell. Is it really necessary to add that to the must? Does the shell add color or ....? Has anyone just used the pulp and if so - how much pulp per gallon batch?

I also may not have 4 or 5 # total this year (they don't weigh much when ripe) so I thought I might freeze them until I had enough. Freezing the pulp & juice would take less space than the whole fruit, but if the skin/shell adds some element - I could freeze them whole. The juice is very potent - aromatic and flavorful, so I really hope somebody who has made Passion Fruit with real fruit can help me out with a recipe and some ideas.

 

[Stressbaby]

I've done it. Ignore that from Keller, just use the pulp. I scoop it out as the fruit ripen and freeze it, just as you describe. It makes terrific wine. I will come back in a bit and post my recipe.

 

[Stressbaby]

Pics: http://relatitude.blogspot.com/2017/04/2016-wines-chapter-13-passion-fruit.html

• 5# 1oz passionfruit pulp, frozen, thawed, bagged
• 1 can white grape concentrate
• 456g sugar
• Kmeta at thaw
• 1/4t Fermaid K, divided
• 0.5t GoFerm at hydration
• Tannin 1/4t
• Pectic enzyme 1t
• Water to 1 gal
• Calcium carbonate 3.5t
• Opti Red/Opti White 1g
• Booster Blanc/Rouge 1g
• Lallzyme EX 0.1g
• Bentonite 2g on day 3

Starting pH was 2.68 - you will definitely need an upward adjustment. I used calcium carbonate to push pH to 3.04. I think QA 23 is a great yeast for this wine.

Also, it ferments fast. In years past I didn't make any effort to control the temps or fermentation rate and wound up with fusel issues. Use ice packs to keep the temps down, particularly the first few days; try to extend the primary fermentation out to a week at least. This will also preserve the aromas much better.

Finally, I would reserve a few ounces of pulp. If you want more aroma you can drop the pulp in a cheesecloth in the carboy and do a secondary infusion to add that back. I do that after a couple of rackings to get rid of most of the yeast first. No matter if the sugars are eaten up, you'll still get the nice aromas that way. Pull the cheesecloth after 2-4 weeks.

 

[wildhair]

Most excellent! So you're using 5# of pulp - that could take me a while! LOL I'll see how it goes. It takes these little fruits a long time to ripen. I may mix it with a different fruit - like goji berry.
Thanks for the write up!

 

[Stressbaby]

Most excellent! So you're using 5# of pulp - that could take me a while! LOL I'll see how it goes. It takes these little fruits a long time to ripen. I may mix it with a different fruit - like goji berry.
Thanks for the write up!

I think it would be good with four and could be decent with three. Not sure I'd go below three. And yes, it does take a while. I get enough for a batch about every 18-24 months.

 

[wildhair]

I may have to start another vine!

 

[AkTom]

I have a 6 month old vine inside. Maybe it'll bloom next year.
One can dream...

 

[wildhair]

Mine only had a few blooms last year - I think we got 6 fruits total. There is a very small window for pollination & the flowers seem to attract a small wasp or ants instead of bees. I pruned it back this spring and it really took off. Lots of blossoms on the new growth and lots of fruit. I've had to add on to the original trellis and I may put it in a bigger pot next year. But I can't let it get too big or it won't make it thru the door when fall comes.

 

[Stressbaby]

I have a 6 month old vine inside. Maybe it'll bloom next year.
One can dream...

You will get flowers and fruit soon. Compared to other tropical fruit, passion fruit is productive and fruits early. I had 2 vines in the raised beds in my greenhouse years ago and I had to remove them, they were too aggressive. Now I have them in containers and aggressively prune them yearly. Compare that to my garcinias - 7 years old and I got the first bloom on one out of six trees just this year.