Food - Drink
Why The Banana Passionfruit Is Illegal In Some Places
By FELILX BEHR
Given the popularity of bananas as a staple produce item and the allure of passion fruit as an exotic treat, you might think that the banana passionfruit would be equally savored. However, the fruit, which resembles a banana on the outside and a passion fruit on the inside, is illegal to cultivate in some of the few countries in which it grows.
The banana passionfruit grows primarily in the Andes in SouthAmerica, but has also grown rampantly in Australia, Hawaii, and New Zealand. In these latter countries, banana passionfruit is considered an invasive species or a “noxious weed,” and cultivating the plant is flat out illegal or strictly monitored and controlled.
The banana passionfruit has a sweet and slightly acidic flavor reminiscent of a peach, and emits an aroma similar to that of an orange. The bright side is that it’s grown in South America, and if you travel to Colombia, you can taste the sorbete de curuba, a drink that uses the banana passionfruit, also known as the curuba.