Post #364218 by The Gnomon on Fri, Feb 29, 2008 12:55 PM

Goy's PF pulp is close enough to the fresh fruits I get to avoid paying $3 per fruit except on occasion. I do find it easier to extract the juice from the fresh fruits than from Goya pulp. But you get a lot more product from one package of Goya than you end up with from let's say 8 fruits and for a lot less money.

Aunty Lilikoi's PF syrup looks and tastes better than my own, but Lori's artistry with PF products is understanadbly far more advanced than mine. Plus, she has better equipment. Plus, she has PF grown on the garden island and cultivated to perfection. List goes on, I'm sure.

The fruits I get fresh are grown in Florida (originally Brazil); purple on the outside (aka Purple Passion Fruit) and yellow on the inside. Goya's pulp is yellow as well, so it comes from Purple PF. Aunty Lilikoi's fruits are yellow on the outside (aka Yellow PF) and pinkish on the inside, so her syrup comes out orange colored. Orange colored PF syrup I call "red" so that there is no confusion in thinking that there is orange flavor in the PF syrup. I'm not sure what the flavor differences are between the two varieties, but if its not the same its very similar. I've just never had one of each together at the same time.

One of the chores in making the syrup is getting the juice out of the pulp. It's OK to have some pulp in there for character, but just as with Orgeat, the more thoroughly the pulp can be strained, the clearer the final product and the more suitable for drinks (transparent drinks mainly). If you use it only in opaque drinks then removing the pulp is less important (and a healthy source of fiber 8) )

Thanks to Scottes' nylon filter bags (the ones he located and introduced to us in an Orgeat thread), it makes this task easier. Cheesecloth tends to rip apart at the most inopportune times, The filter bags are really strong. As you might imagine, while it's sometimes fun doing this, it can get old fast. Spending $37 to buy a half gallon of Aunty Lilikoi's instead saves you a few hundred $$-worth of labor, time, and hassle.

One advantage to making your own is controlling the level of sweetness you like. I think Lori at AL, probably after years of experimenting, testing, and winning awards, got the ideal sweetness. The fruit itself is pretty tart.

If the AL syrup is too sweet for you, you can always tartify it a bit with some fresh or de-pulped PF juice. AL syrup is sweet enough to eliminate the need for RCS in drinks that call for both. If, for example, you want to make a Mai Tai with PF flavor, add AL PF syrup and don't use any RCS.

But if you're happy with making your stuff with pulp rather than juice, you can avoid lots of effort and/or expense.

Holy crap! I was just surfing the AL site to see if there was a good pic of a yellow PF cut in half showing its pinkish insides (couldn't find one), but I just noticed that she also sells unsweetened PF juice. Hmmmm! Same price as the syrup. That could come in handy.

I have no idea how long PF syrup lasts. I don't refrigerate mine, but it doesn't sit around forever. It always is still good by the time I finish off a bottle or jar.