Bet you think passionfruits are only around in summer
In a day and age where we have lost touch with a lot of our food production, there is something quite magical about seeing - first hand - how some of our favourite food is grown.
A flourishing passionfruit farm in Queensland in winter Supplied
It's also talking to the farmers and producers that we get a chance to learn things that might otherwise pass us by. And that's just what happened when 9Honey Food Presenter Jane de Graaff went on a recent trip with Australian Passionfruit to find out how they are grown and why we still see them on the shelves in winter.
Passionfruit on the vine in winter Supplied
We learned for the first time that passionfruits, those tropical flavour bombs of the summer pavlova topping, aren't just for the warmer months.
Wait, what?
Passionfruit flowers are so intricate and they bloom all year Supplied
Honestly, for most of us the little fruits are synonymous with long hot days, cooling cocktails and that brilliant invention condensed milk passionfruit slice. For some of us that's the taste of our childhood.
So we were thrilled to get an insiders look at a visit to passionfruit vineyard (or farm if you think vineyards are just for wine) to see passionfruits growing in all their glory in the middle of winter.
Yes, the MIDDLE of winter.
Passionfruit vines produce fruit all year in some parts of Australia, with a summer flush and a winter flush Supplied
In Australia we have such a temperate climate that in Queensland the vines not only flower and fruit all year round, they have a hefty summer crop then a winter crop too. June-August is when you'll see this secondary, lesser know flush of fruit.
Check out the video above as 9Honey visits Beerburrum in Quennsland to see the passionfruit vines in full winter swing.
Yep, it blew our minds too.
Passionfruit harvesting is done by hand Supplied
AND all the fruit is harvested by hand (Jane wasn't very good at it though, it seems there's a particular flick of the wrist). With over 1,000,000 pieces of fruit coming from this one farm alone, that's a LOT of fruit to collect.
But that just means more delicious fruits for us.
Go on, take a look and see how the fruit is grown, graded, selected and cracked. And have a taste of summer in the dead heart of winter.
