Trader Vic's Passion Fruit Syrup Discontinued?

During my last visit to my local liquor store I inquired into whether they could order some of this for me - to save me the shipping costs I usually pay from tradervics.com. They stock quite a few other Trader Vic's products so I thought I'd give it a go.
Today I received a call from the store manager who said she spoke to her order person at Vic's and received word that (according to her), "Vic's does not have it in stock and will be discontinuing that product". I did, however, just receive word that Vic's is shipping me an order - which includes passion fruit syrup - as of yesterday.
I find what she said hard to believe, choose not to believe it, and otherwise stand in disbelief. Is this just another confused and helpless liquor store worker, or is there any truth to this (God help us)?

the jab just purchased some at the emeryville vic's on thursday. also they have plenty of their own drinks that use it so i can't see it being discontinued. i would discount it as bad liquor store employee syndrome.

Bought some today in Chicago at Sam's. They have plenty, but it is the 'double strength' variety.

I guess I'll just dilute it with 50% water to get the proper amount needed for various drinks (so as not to either overpower the drink with double the Passion Fruity flavor OR end up with a bit less total liquid in the drink than intended by the creator)...?

Dea, Martin, Dave, Pablus, Matt, anyone... any suggestions on this?

Um, wouldn't the 'double strength' passion fruit syrup be the same as the 'double strength' koko creme syrup? As in it means nothing? I believe martiki clued us into this fact a few months ago.

On 2006-07-14 21:31, martiki wrote:
By the way, the "Double Strength" thing on the labels is essentially meaningless. Just marketing. Don't let that throw you.

As seen here: The Mai Tai, a component study in Mixology

I'd be very sad to see that product discontinued, especially since the company won't ship to Canada, or even acknowledge orders or e-mails from Canadians.

Dea, Martin, Dave, Pablus, Matt, anyone... any suggestions on this?>>

I want to try that Passion syrup recipe Kuku posted.
It's quintuple nuclear strength to the 47th power.

But, as you well know, I'm just a technician... martiki and kuku, BK and thejab are artistes.

(Tikibong made fun of my Banana Rum Split even though it's a delicious and potent summer cooler.
Now I make paper wallets, listen to country music and cry.)

Yeah, I wouldn't read much into that "double strength" crap. You probably won't find it too "passion fruity", you may find the consistency too syrupy, but if there's enough dilution it will be fine. The bum used TVs passion syrup when formulating his books.

What I will tell you is that Torani Passion Fruit Syrup will do to your cocktails what the Allies did to Dresden. Horrible stuff.

I've heard nothing about it being discontinued, and FI certainly keeps the production flowing.

Mixed up some QB Coolers last night, ignoring the 'double strength' label(as suggested above), and they came out pretty good.

The "double strength" thing is just marketing label jargon for "extra good" I suspect.

Pab, you sell yourself short. Best drink I've had this month came from your punchbowl.

Passion fruit syrup is so easy to make it is almost criminal to bother ordering it. And it turns out with a very good passion fruit flavor and no artificial nonsense. I hesistate to call what I make a recipe, as it just uses off the shelf ingredients and a soup pot, but..

Anyone can make it, the cost is cheap, the passion fruit content is higher, and I have yet to find a recipe that calls for it in which home brew syrup has made a negative or even terribly noticeable difference.

Buy some passion fruit juice (nectar even if you find it). Make note of the ingredients, as it is often 25% passion and the rest is either water and sugar or white grape juice (aka water and sugar). The better the percentage, the less you need, but it really does not matter.

I use a typical carton packed brand with 25% passion and the rest white grape. I boil the contents of the carton in a pot on med high until it reduced by one third. I measure this out and add one 1/2 pound ordinary white sugar (of course Maui Brand blonde Hawaiian sugar is my prefered thickener. Use it if you can find it) per one cup of reduced liquid. Cook this on med high stirring all the while until the sugar is disolved. Add some white rum to preserve it if you like (I do), maybe 4 oz per fifth.

Bottle in empty rum bottles while hot (over the sink). Cap when cool to touch. Store in the fridge. Keeps for ages with the rum in it, but you may wish to toss it in six months and make more. If it goes bubbly, fizzy, or foamy in the bottle after lengthy storage, toss it out.

If you really wish to keep a large batch, just practice canning techniques post production and you should be able to bottle it in such a way as to keep it indefinitely.

Ahu

Upon reading my above post, 2 things pop out..

1. 2 oz per fifth of white rum should do it, not four. Seems I am always subconsciously trying to squeeze extra rum into things.

2. Some may say, "White grape juice? No thanks. I'll stick to Vic's."

My response? White grape juice of the kind used by large juice companies in mixed fruit beverages is for all intents and purposes flavorless sugar water. And further still, it beats the corn syrup, artificial color, and artificial flavor that makes up most brands of passion syrup. Beyond that I simply say try it. Make a batch. It will cost little more than an afternoon of your time, and if you can taste grape flavor in the finished product..

..then you have such a refined palate that you might consider becoming a sommelier.

Ahu

But why not use passion fruit juice that doesn't have grape in it? Availabilty?
Ran

I have never seen 100% passion fruit juice. But if you can get it, yes I agree that this would be ideal. It may still require some water though, and the "juice" may contain water already.

If I could find one that was made with sugar water and passion fruit juice, that would be better than white grape in theory... as any fruit syrup is really nothing more than either:

a) Sugar syrup with added color and natural/artificial flavor

b) Sugar syrup with fruit juice concentrates and/or esssence

In the case of making passion fruit syrup, my goal is to actually put as much real passion fruit into it as I can and keep the flavor natural. If you have access to passion fruit juice with no additive juices as fillers, then cooking it down to a thick nectar and adding it to sugar syrup is all you'd really need do.

Please advise me of any brand names you find that are 100%, as I'd be interested in buying some.

Ahu

[ Edited by: KuKuAhu 2006-11-14 14:32 ]

Ahu-

The Perfect Puree of Napa Valley makes a passion fruit product that is only passion fruit concentrate and water. It comes frozen in 30oz. containers and is twice the strength of passion fruit juice. It seems like it would make the ultimate syrup. Problem is it costs $22.50 plus $30 shipping. It makes TV's Syrup look like a great bargain. http://www.perfectpuree.com

We had a decent harvest of passion fruit this year. Now I need to get off my chair & try to make some syrup!

Looza passion fruit juice has no grape juice- just sugar, water, and passion fruit (25%) . Made in Belgium, like all good things.

I imagine it would be a good syrup base. On it's own, it doesn't last long after opening.

Looza is what I use too (as nectar, not to make syrup).
No grape juice in it. I get it in a Middle Eastern Market.
I saw Looza in Ralph's,but they don't have a large variety.

Ran

It's hard to get but you can find it. The stuff I use is from Ceres. I promise you will like your drinks better if you use pure, home-made passion fruit syrup. mmmmmmmmmmm Trader Vic's Grog.....

Looza, check.

Thanks guys.

Ahu

If you want to find Trader Vic's Passion Fruit Syrup you can order it at 800.7MAITAI. You can also get all the other Trader Vic's Food and Beverage Products there too!!! Enjoy!

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but if you go to TV's Website, their store is "Closed" . . . no products at all!

On 2006-11-18 14:10, GentleHangman wrote:
I don't know if anyone has noticed, but if you go to TV's Website, their store is "Closed" . . . no products at all!

Yes, I just noticed that myself. Also, today I went to the local liquor store to see if they could order some (Passion Fruit Syrup) and the only thing they listed were the TV's rums.

Vendome in Beverly Hills still has some of the old Trader Vic's Passion Fruit syrup. I don't know how old it is, though, as most of the bottles the syrup inside has actually solidified. I managed to find two bottles that were still liquid, but they're expensive at something like $6.50 a bottle. This is still the syrup that contains real passion fruit and comes in the glass bottles. What I am seeing everywhere else lately is completely artifical stuff in plastic bottles. The BH Vendome is off of Olympic near Pine, not far from the old Trader Vic's.

I got my bottle at the Beverly Hills Vendome and it has dust on it which I think is Cool.

There is a passionfruit concentrate by a Brazilian company called Dafruta that we get here. It's excellent, unsweetened, so you can sweeten it to taste, and works great! All their juices are of superior quality. I especially like the pineapple as well.

I just bought some (supposedly) pure passion fruit syrup from Chinatown. It's made in China. it comes in an unmarked bottle, and it's thick as fuck. The label stuck on the wrapping says to dilute it, 7 parts water to 1 part syrup if you want to drink it. Ingredients say: pure passion juice (ha!), sugar. The Mayor and I will test it out and let you know what we think. It cost $2.50 I think.

Hate to tell you all this, but every remaining bottle of the old Vics Passion Fruit Syrup in both Northern and Southern California is at Forbidden Island. I cleaned out the the distributor.

Head on in for a drink...while it lasts.

Monin makes an excellent passionfruit syrup. I use it in Donn's Zombies--holy cow Batman! Even through all the other juices and rums, the passionfruit stands out nicely. Get the gold color one.

God, I can't find the thread, but I read about this Passion Fruit syrup from China on T.C. which came highly recommended. I went out and find it at the first place I tried, the Far East Supermarket at 758 New High St. in Chinatown, Los Angeles. I can't even tell you what the label says because its just a plastic shrink wrap that comes off when you take the cap off. Its called "SAP" Passion Fruit drink. The poor chinese to english translation says something about its 'made from pure passion fruit and cane syrup for highest standard of pleasure' ...or something like that. It DESTROYS Trader Vics passion fruit syrup, and I make a lot of drinks, so you can trust me on that. Infact, at four bucks a bottle retail, I am suspecting it is used by some of our respected establishments that don't have the T.V. trademark. It is so good you almost want to cut it, because it can really overpower. I made a spindrift and a Trader Vic's Grog with it and they both took on a whole new dynamic.

I think you may be looking for this thread.

We use perfect puree at our restaurants in Boise. The passion fruit is pure passion fruit concentrate. I have tried quite a few brands and the only thing I like better is fresh passion fruit.

http://www.perfectpuree.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=1&id=11&Itemid=9&filter=601

If someone knows a better product I would love to hear about it.

I just received in the mail two 10 oz. bottles of Hawaiian lilikoi (lilikoi = Hawaiian passion fruit) syrup from the Big Island's Love Family Farms. Looks pretty good. Even still get seeds inside. We'll report from the field later. Also, my mom is sending me a bottle of lilikoi syrup from Aunty Lilikoi's place on Kaua'i. (Funny thing, aunty lilikoi is actually my calabash aunty). Then I read an interview of Kern Mattei on cocktail.com, and it says the Mai Kai uses Kui-Kui brand lilikoi syrup from Hawaii when they can't make it themselves. I guess I'll ask mom to buy that one too and send it to our mailing room at Okonkuluku University.

I feel like I am becoming a collector (and connoisseur) of lilikoi syrups! How weird!

I said it before and I'll say it again...

Make your own.

everyone here is so anal about fresh limes and the like, why should passion fruit be any different?

Testify, FZ!

On 2007-06-07 08:10, professahhummingflowah wrote:
I just received in the mail two 10 oz. bottles of Hawaiian lilikoi (lilikoi = Hawaiian passion fruit) syrup from the Big Island's Love Family Farms. Looks pretty good. Even still get seeds inside. We'll report from the field later. Also, my mom is sending me a bottle of lilikoi syrup from Aunty Lilikoi's place on Kaua'i. (Funny thing, aunty lilikoi is actually my calabash aunty). Then I read an interview of Kern Mattei on cocktail.com, and it says the Mai Kai uses Kui-Kui brand lilikoi syrup from Hawaii when they can't make it themselves. I guess I'll ask mom to buy that one too and send it to our mailing room at Okonkuluku University.

I feel like I am becoming a collector (and connoisseur) of lilikoi syrups! How weird!

Right on! I love Aunty Lilikoi, you'll love it too--they make it with fresh, ripe passion fruit picked right there on Kauai; nothing but that and sugar. Try it once and you understand immediately that you could never even come close with a homemade syrup made with canned juice. It's even got lumps! My suggestion is the Demerara Dry Float made with Aunty Lilikoi--it really comes to life.

I've tried the Kukui brand as well, it's pretty good too. Like Aunty's stuff, it has an intense fresh passion fruit flavor and the natural tartness of the passion fruit. Way better than Vic's (and I like Vic's).

On 2007-06-07 11:18, Quince_at_Dannys wrote:

you could never even come close with a homemade syrup made with canned juice.

who said anything about canned?

fruit markets, man, fruit markets!

I just bought three bottles from TV.
They now come in a liter bottle instead of the 750ml .

I'm all about making my own syrups, but haven't been able to lay my hands on any passionfruit here in B.F. Egypt. Maybe next time I'm in NYC...

I just ordered 2 bottles of passionfruit syrup from TV, only to discover too late that they changed the recipe. The bottles arrived yesterday, and the new syrup is absolutely vile. It's completely unusable except to make orange sno-cones or something. Needless to say, I was pissed at having wasted all that money, and shot off a nasty e-mail to the TV store. I just can't understand why they decided to completely reformulate a decent product and make it terrible.

I'd love to make my own syrup, but I've scoured the local Mexican and Asian food stores, and the only thing I could find was some sort of passionfruit soda pop that contains no actual juice.

On the advice of the Bum, I ordered a couple of bottles of the Finest Call Passionfruit Puree today, and will see how that works out.

Weblog: Eye of the Goof

[ Edited by: MrBaliHai 2008-11-28 14:12 ]

Goya Passion Fruit Pulp - Heat, Reduce, Filter through cheese cloth, mix with simple syrup, add a little vodka to stabilize it - done.

On 2008-11-28 18:47, Tonga Tiki wrote:
Goya Passion Fruit Pulp - Heat, Reduce, Filter through cheese cloth, mix with simple syrup, add a little vodka to stabilize it - done.

None of the stores around here carry it.

None of the stores around here carry it.

Have you tried the bigger Mexican markets?

On 2008-12-08 14:57, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:

None of the stores around here carry it.

Have you tried the bigger Mexican markets?

Yup, we've got a fairly large supermercado, and they've got all the Goya products...EXCEPT...passionfruit.

I just received my order from Finest Call and it's excellent, made with real passionfruit pulp, so I'm a happy camper again.

The TV syrup is going into the toilet.

Same here...no mas passionfruit. Unfortunately, I am in need of a lot of it. I'll try the Finest Call as well. Thanks.

Edit: I just saw on FC's website that their puree is only 13% passionfruit. Aaargh! Where is Super GoyaMan?

[ Edited by: jingleheimerschmidt 2008-12-08 15:27 ]

On 2008-12-08 15:25, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:
Same here...no mas passionfruit. Unfortunately, I am in need of a lot of it. I'll try the Finest Call as well. Thanks.

Edit: I just saw on FC's website that their puree is only 13% passionfruit. Aaargh! Where is Super GoyaMan?

That's actually more than Trader Vic's original recipe, which was 11%.

I was in a Walmart Supercenter last week and in the freezer section was passion fruit syrup pulp, along with pulps from a couple of other fruits. I don't remember the brand off-hand, but the size of the package was the same as what I purchased at a local hispanic market.

The products Walmart carries can vary from store to store, but it's worth a shot.

On 2009-02-21 06:53, Hot Lava wrote:
I was in a Walmart Supercenter last week and in the freezer section was passion fruit syrup pulp, along with pulps from a couple of other fruits. I don't remember the brand off-hand, but the size of the package was the same as what I purchased at a local hispanic market.

The products Walmart carries can vary from store to store, but it's worth a shot.

Shortly after I received my bottles of Finest Call, I went back to my local Supermercado and found Goya Passionfruit pulp buried in the freezer section behind a bunch of other stuff. It's now sitting in my fridge awaiting the day when my FC runs out.