Maracuya--my new passion

So walking through the market, I found a fruit I had heard of, but hadn't yet tried: Maracuya.

Maracuya is also known as passion-fruit, but I didn't recognize it because a) what I thought passion fruit was, is actually dragon fruit, and b) the ones here in Nicaragua are yellow instead of purple.

not my picture. link here to read more

So I bought a sack full of them and took them home to try them out. Now I am in love!

8 of these cost 15 Cordoba which is about  65 cents

When you bust them open they are full of a delicious, tangy goo. Kind of like a pomegranate, but stickier. At this point, just grab a spoon-full or hand-full of seeds, or kind of squeeze/pour the contents into your mouth.

Yes. You can eat the seeds.

It's very tangy, a little bit peachy, extremely fragrant, and a little bit like slurping down a wad of tadpoles--but in a good way.

Eating it fresh is great, but it's even better when you turn it into callala, which is the name for the drink made of maracuya. You can cook the flesh, or use it raw. But don't ask the ladies who work around here which is best unless you want things to break out in a debate that I think insults somebody's grandmother. Either way--I think they're both delicious.


Smoosh all the fruit goo into a container and cook it (or don't) for about 5 minutes.

nifty how it comes out so clean, huh?

Strain the seeds out. Or if you have a blender, just go to town and crunch them up in the juice, they add to the tangy flavor.

Then add some sugar (maybe 2/3 of a cup) and plenty of water--until it is about the consistency of orange juice, and pour yourself a big glass! (for these 6 maracuya I made about 3 quarts of callala)

Delicious! But the best part of all is how the whole house smells. It's just plain tropical. Maracuya: my new passionately-loved Nicaraguan fruit.