Barbadine Punch

The barbadine - sometimes called granadilla - is the giant relative of passionfruit. More delicately flavoured than passionfruit with a distinctive aroma and taste, barbadines grow on vines that are best allowed to run on an arbour from which the large fruit might hang. The colour changes from pale green to creamy yellow as they ripen. If you are using your barbadine for punch or ice cream, you want the fruit at the peak of ripeness when you can just put a dent in the fruit with your finger.  The fleshy outside of the barbadine may not have a distinctive taste, but the intensely barbadine-y flavour is found in the juicy sacs that surround the seeds. So cut open your barbadine carefully to remove the pulpy seeds - suck a few and luxuriate in the essence of the fruit.

These seed sacs hold all the barbadine-y flavour

Barbadine, one ripe fruit
Evaporated milk, 2 cups
Brown sugar, three heaping tablespoons
Salt, tiny pinch

Open your barbadine. Put the seeds in a strainer and rub the seeds to collect all the juice in a small bowl.

Scoop those seed sacs carefully

Peel the delicate outer skin and remove the membrane inside. The soft fleshy part will thicken your punch. Blend the juicy barbadine flesh with milk and brown sugar and the juice from the seeds. Serve cold (or on ice) or use an ice cream maker to freeze - a rich fruity ice! Refrigerated, your punch may gel slightly, evidence of the fruit's pectin - stir well before serving.

(To concentrate fresh goat's milk, simmer in an open pot until the volume is half, about an hour. Stir frequently. Add sugar to the milk while it is still hot and stir well to dissolve.)

Barbadine punch with a few seeds in their flavour sacs on top.

Barbadine is an "old fashioned" fruit that may be considered
an acquired taste