Giant Granadilla

One of the most beautiful of the passionflowers, this beauty opens its large, fragrant flowers with deep red petals and a centre crown that contains five rows of numerous white and purple rays. Large leaves hang from stems that are quadrangular in cross section, hence its botanical name. It produces the most enormous fruits of all of the passion fruits, which grow very rapidly, and may weigh up to 4 kg (9 lb) turning to medium yellow when mature. For best fruiting, flowers should be hand pollinated. The ripe fruit is eaten fresh or used in drinks whilst unripe, green fruit is eaten as a vegetable. It is quite hardy, surviving temperatures down to 1°C (35°F) for short periods of time. In warm areas it can be cultivated in home gardens, or it can even be kept as a greenhouse or indoor container plant, and grown in a sunny south-facing window.