The passion fruit is the fruit of a number of plants in the Passiflora family. Edible passion fruits can be divided into three main types:
- purple passion fruit (fruits of Passiflora edulis Sims)
- yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa Deg.),
- giant granadilla (Passiflora quadrangularis L.)
Passion fruits are round or oval. They can be yellow, red, purple, and green.The fruits have a juicy edible center composed of a large number of seeds.
Raw passion fruit is 73% water, 22% carbohydrates, 2% protein and 0.7% fat (table). In a 100 gram amount, fresh passion fruit contains 36% of the Daily Value (DV) of vitamin C, 42% dietary fiber, B vitamins riboflavin (11% DV) and niacin (10% DV), 12% iron and 10% phosphorus (right table). No other micronutrients are in significant content.
Several varieties of passionfruit are rich in polyphenol content,and yellow varieties of the fruit were found to contain prunasin and other cyanogenic glycosides in the peel and juice.