Passiflora Ligularis

Strong vines carry large, attractive, greenish-white flowers, which produce absolutely huge, almost spherical, orange to yellow fruits. The fascinating outer shell is slippery and hard like an egg-shell, and has soft padding on the interior to protect the easily-chewed black seeds which are surrounded by sweet, aromatic, transparent pulp, rather reminiscent of pineapple. These fruits are best eaten like a hard-boiled egg by cutting off a piece of the hard shell and scooping out the tasty flesh, which contains vitamins A, C, and K, phosphorus, iron, and calcium. It is native to the Andes Mountains between Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia, growing as far south as northern Argentina and as far north as Mexico. Outside of its native range it grows in the tropical mountains of Africa and Australia, and is now common in local markets of Papua New Guinea.