After staring down this ever growing bowl of passion fruit for a week, searching passionately for passion fruit recipes, I decided to make my own recipe. This is a creamy-smooth, less-sugar, custard-style homemade ice cream that walks the line between sophistication and kids-still-love-it. Grown ups just go *wow* and kids think it tastes like Jolly Rancher green apple candy.

After I washed them, I sliced them in half and scooped out the fruit with a spoon.

28 fruits weighed 1 lb. 12 oz. The weight of the pulp, including seeds, was 1 lb.

I wanted a seedless puree for ice cream because the seeds of our particular variety are a bit too tough for easy eating, so I gently warmed the puree over low heat just until the seeds began to release some of their juiciness. I didn’t want to let them get to a simmer for fear of changing the fresh taste of the pulp.

Then I put the pulp through a ricer to remove the seeds.

Final yield: 28 fruits (1lb 12oz.) =1 cup of passionfruit juice

The recipe:

Passion Fruit Ice Cream

yields about 1 1/2 quarts

1 cup passion fruit puree, see procedure above

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

3 eggs

small pinch salt

Combine 3/4 cup sugar, 3 eggs, 2 cups cream, 1 cup whole milk, and a small pinch of salt in a medium saucepan.

Stir it up.

Whisking constantly (I love this roux whisk because it gets the bottom of the pan and the corners) over low heat for about 20 minutes, I brought the mix to 170 degrees F. Don’t leave it for a minute and heat very slowly.

This renders the eggs completely safe to eat (anything over 160 deg F is good in cooked dishes). This is the instant-read thermometer I use for yogurt and cheese-making, too.

Remove from heat and allow to cool, then add 1 cup of passion fruit juice and stir to combine.

Chill in refrigerator several hours or overnight.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions. After years of not making ice cream because I never had enough ice or rock salt on hand, my kids got me this one for Mother’s Day and it’s very easy to use.

After the ice cream maker does its stuff, spoon it into a freezer-safe container like a loaf pan and let it harden several hours or overnight.

It’s hard to describe the flavor of passion fruit, but I think my kids come the closest when they say it tastes like green apple Jolly Ranchers (only better, of course).  What do you think it tastes like?

You can buy the puree in the frozen section of some supermarkets, and they’re in season now (September) in the southern US. If you can grow them or find them in your part of the world, they’re a sublime treat.