Passion Fruit and Mint Cooler
We’re dedicating this passion fruit drink article to our beloved passion vine that died last month (8/2018). It gave us beautiful foliage and fruit for over 10 years. Today we’re republishing this passion fruit and mint cooler recipe with a new video, new photos and a thank you to our beautiful vines!
Passion Fruit Cooler Recipe
This recipe is a testament to why gardeners should never give up to quickly on their favorite plants. A couple years ago, we determined we had to grow passion fruit. As anxious gardeners and lovers of fresh passion fruit, we didn’t just invest in one vine. After all, in addition to our own personal garden fruit greed and long list of passion fruit recipes we wanted to explore, we had an extensive list of friends who were equally devoted to fresh passion fruit.
So, to satisfy our needs, as well as needs of friends who live in double fleece layer-cold weather climates, we bought 4 vines. Three vines for us, and one for friends. We’re always thinking of sending fruit to out of state friends. One vine would be plenty. During the first year, the vines were nurtured with organic fertilizer, consistent water, plenty of sunshine and lots of sweet talk. When the first alien looking flowers appeared, we were like silly, happy kids who inherited an endless supply of quarters for the gum-ball machine. We geek-ed out in the privacy of our green garden escape.
Video of our Passion Fruit and Mint Cooler:
We waited with anticipation for signs of fruit for a passion fruit drink. Our cocktail shaker was ready and waiting. But, no fruit appeared. The flowers dropped. Again. And again. And again. A ton of flowers, all dropped like a bad date. We felt defeated. We felt like the nursery lied to us. There was no ” prolific fruiting” like the tags had promised. Liars. Liars.
Dying Passion Fruit Vines
What happened? Why did all the flowers drop? Neither of the 4 vines, which we planted in different parts of the garden could produce one passion fruit. So we researched, read, googled and looked up everything we could find. What turned up in some garden forums were mentions about passion fruit vines taking a few seasons to fruit.
When the second fruiting season rolled around, our fingers were crossed tightly, hoping that this was the year we’d be rolling in perfumed seeds and nectar. Passion fruit curd, passion fruit tart, passion fruit martinis, passion fruit cooler … here we come! Again, just like the previous season, every single passion fruit flower bloomed beautifully, then withered away without any sign of fruit. Fail. Here we went again, researching, thinking that we bought the flowering variety instead of the fruiting variety.
At the end of our gardening patience and after two failed seasons to fruit, we thought about giving up and growing another variety that might be more adaptable to our climate. Or something. We didn’t know what was wrong. It must be a bum variety. Yeah, that’s it. Luckily, this was an incredibly busy year for us and we didn’t get to pour as much attention to the garden as we had hoped we could. Trees were left a little un-trimmed, some vegetables got the chance to spread their own seeds, and the passion fruit vines were spared the big yank.
Then early one morning in July, we walked past the passion fruit vines and there it was. The very first, one and only passion fruit dangling above our heads, green and camouflaged amongst the leaves. It was the cutest thing, ever. Score! From that point on, almost every single flower set into fruit. We started counting. One, ten, twenty, twenty two…..twenty five passion fruits!! We’re now about 30 passion fruits richer and that’s the end of the story. The little guys took forever to ripen but we were in no hurry. What is a few months to ripen compared to a couple years just to get the damn sweet vines to fruit. Here’s a passion fruit cooler to celebrate!
The moral to all this? Don’t give up too easily. Sometimes the wait is certainly worth the reward.
happy drinking,
diane and todd
Check out our Cocktail Recipes Here and our Complete Whiskey Guide.
Passion Fruit & Mint Cooler
Ingredients
- 6-8 whole Mint Leaves
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar (30ml)
- 1 ounce fresh Lime Juice (30ml)
- 1 Tablespoon fresh Passion fruit Juice (15ml) *see note 1 for extracting
- 12 ounces Water (360ml)
Instructions
- Muddle the mint leaves, sugar, and lime juice together.
- Add passion fruit juice and water to the muddled mix. (Add passion fruit seeds if you are so inclined). Divide into 2 glasses filled with ice.
Notes
Combine 2 cups (480ml) water, 2 cups (400g) sugar, and a large handful of mint leaves in a medium saucepan. Heat just until a light simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and allow mint to steep for 15-20 minutes. Strain and store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Hope you enjoy our passion fruit drink. Here’s some more great fruit recipes and passion fruit recipes.
how about adding 7up insted of rum
Absolutely delicious! My girlfriend said it’s her favorite drink. Now the hard part is finding fresh passion fruit. But the nectar is easy to find.
This is my favorite party cooler. It’s really refreshing.
In case you can’t wait 3 years for your juice – DaVine Hawaii has puree year round from Hawaii!! It is delicious – no additives!
Thank you for sharing this story and recipe. I’m going to make this for Christmas.
Just an update. I finally got to making this recipe and it is so delicious! Thanks again for sharing. This is one I will be making again and again.
I loved the story and that you did not give up on the vines. I do grow passion fruit myself ( I have the yellow verity)and my vines produced on the first year but I did pollinate with a brush every single one of them.(you do increase the chances of having more fruit this way.)
Hi, I stumbled on to your post when I was researching whether passion fruit is suitable to grow in Orange County/Southern California. Do they prefer full sun, partial sun or shade (like under another tree)? Did you grow your 4 vines in the same area, or in different locations to see what works best? Love your pictures by the way.
We aren’t experts on what is best, but for us we reduced our vines down to one vine, the roots are planted on the shade side of a shed and the vines have climbed over the top and thrive and grown towards the sun. We would probably avoid full shade.
Thanks for the compliment!
Was ready to give up on my passion fruit vine until I read your comments. This is the second growing season for mine so I’ll wait a while before yanking. I came to your site looking for ideas on using the flower, not the fruit, but didn’t find anything. I’d love to make jam (like geranium jam). Any recipes?