I first tasted passion fruit juice in a Brazilian café listening to a language I didn’t yet understand. It was love at first drink. Just like my similarly life-changing experience with alfredo, my eyes got wide, my breath stopped and I spent the next 30 minutes literally running back to the fountain to get more. Its floral scent took me to tropical gardens and the light sourness made each sip more interesting than the last. And as it happens, passion fruit isn’t just a fantastic taste, it’s also a natural sleep aid. I discovered this when I fell asleep in the middle of a class I was taking 20 minutes after my binge.
All these years later, passion fruit holds the same appeal to me. And after watching the great Alton Brown talk about mint juleps, I decided to do my own (non-alcoholic) twist on it — with passion fruit! Ready for a fruity, tropical, bright, cooling summer drink that might even help you get to sleep at night? Then let’s talk passion fruit mint juleps.
Where and Why to Find Passion Fruit
Passion fruit is extremely and fantastically floral, bright, barely acidic and both sweet and sour. It’s like a breezy tropical evening in a fruit. I personally prefer the yellow-skinned variety, but it is more common to encounter the purple-skinned variety here in the states. Either is fine for this drink. But that still leaves the question of where to find it.
Your best bet is to look at a health food store or an international market. Even then, you might not be able to find it. When you do find it, or finally decide to give up and grow it on your own, it will be worth it. Hunt for it, win a duel for it (but not really) and you’ll be rewarded with what to me was the newest and most unique flavor I’d tasted yet.
How Can This Be a Julep Without Alcohol?
Mint juleps are so emblematic of the South and so associated with bourbon that we’ve come to think of all juleps as alcoholic. But guess how the New Oxford American Dictionary defines a julep? “A sweet flavored drink made from a sugar syrup, sometimes (emphasis added) containing alcohol or medication.” A rather broad definition. This julep comes from a sugar syrup (also known as a simple syrup) that’s flavored with mint and passion fruit. A julep indeed.
Simple syrup helps set quality sweetened drinks apart from lesser drinks. It’s made with two ingredients: sugar and water, usually in a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio. But why bother making a simple syrup when you could just mix sugar into water at the last minute?
- Simple syrups take 5 minutes of hands-on time. It’s extremely fast
- Simple syrups make preparing large batches of drinks much easier. Squirt, dilute, move on.
- Simple syrup is actually (slightly) sweeter than straight sugar. The sucrose of sugar is converted into fructose and glucose, resulting in a more intense sweetness.
- Simple syrup also avoids the all too common problem of trying to mix sugar into a drink at the last minute, only to have it settle down to the bottom.
- Add to that the ability to infuse simple syrups with flavor (think passion fruit, lemon, orange, etc. etc.) and you’ve got a truly superior drink making material on your hands. Infusing the flavor directly into the syrup is a far more effective tactic than trying to mix it in at the last second.
Simple syrups are very useful.
Why DIY it?
Passion fruit anything is difficult to find, which is your number one reason. The number two reason is that the overwhelming majority of passion fruit flavored product found in stores is nothing like this passion fruit julep and certainly not truly indicative of what passion fruit is really like.
In terms of cost, this is a more expensive drink. Passion fruit are often pricey, sometimes coming in at 2 dollars for a single fruit or more, making your total estimated cost for 1-2 quarts (depending on dilution) come to 12 dollars or perhaps even a little more depending on where you live. This is definitely the occasional treat rather than summer staple.
When you do make them, remember that these are best served on warm or hot nights where you’re looking to cool off and do what you can to sleep a little easier. Passion fruit doesn’t work for everybody — but it might give you a shot at falling asleep more easily. Even if it doesn’t, the passion fruit julep is still worth making. It pairs well with strawberries, vanilla, orange and ice cream.
And that’s it for today! Now go make some passion fruit juleps!
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup water, plus more to dilute
- 4 passion fruit
- 12 mint leaves
- ¼ lemon juice, more if preferred
- Lemon zest
- Combine 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water in a medium saucepan
- Heat on no more than medium for roughly 5 minutes -- remove from heat when the syrup has completely dissolved and the liquid is clear like water, not cloudy
- Let mixture cool to roughly room temperature, slightly above or below doesn't much matter
- Cut open passion fruit and remove flesh and seeds
- Separate flesh from seeds
- Puree flesh and put into the simple syrup to steep for 2 hours
- Feed syrup through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any remaining flesh
- Dilute in 2 or 6 cups water to make either 1 quart or 2 quarts -- this step is not necessary, but usually done to reduce sweetness slightly. I recommend it,
- In medium-tall glasses, place 3 mint leaves and 1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
- Mash mint and sugar together, the mint should be cut apart by the sugar in a minute or two
- Fill glass with enough of the syrup to fill
- Zest lemon into glasses
- Enjoy!
Sue/theviewfromgreatisland says
I discovered passion fruit last summer and I’m hooked!