PURPLE PASSION FRUIT – GULUPA
The purple passion fruit, Passiflora edulis Sims, which belongs to the family of passion fruit is an exotic fruit native to the Amazon region, but grows wild in an area stretching from southern Colombia to northern Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The fruit is nearly round, weighing between 40 and 50g and 5 to 5.5cms in diameter. It has a sturdy, smooth and thick bark dark purple; the pulp is small edible black seeds covered by a juicy pulp crystalline yellow-orange. The taste of this fruit is unique, sweet and slightly acidic, with a very pleasant aroma.
Gulupa grows in the Andes between 2500 and 3800 meters, it is a woody vine and climbing up to 15m high, with whitish stems.