Monday, March 02, 2009

The buah su su (passion fruit)


YG has recently blogged about the passion fruit or buah su su, in Malay. Since he has already given you much information about this fruit, I will simply complement what he has written with some photos from our garden. It so happens that we have a buah su su growing in our garden; and right this moment there are 5 fruits on the vines.

The first 3 photos are of the fruits on the vines. As YG mentioned, the buah su su is a climber. In our house, we have constructed a wooden frame for my son’s pitcher plants and it was also ideal for the buah su su.

You will notice that the fruits are greenish purple in colour. Those that you buy in the market are usually light brown or orange in colour. They look rather artificial don’t they? As a matter of fact, we actually had an elderly couple ring our door bell one morning to enquire if our buah su su were real or plastic! They happened to pass by our house during their morning exercise.

There next 2 photos are of the leaves and flower. Actually I find the flowers very beautiful.



This last photo is of a buah su su that we bought from the market for comparison.

13 comments:

JollyGreenP said...

You have some nice looking fruits there Chun See. Although the passion flower will grow in the UK it never produces any decent fruit. My mother had a plant when we were young and gave away many rooted cuttings. As far as i know the original plant is still growing strong against the garden wall.

yg said...

chun see,
actually my post was about the passion flower (passiflora foetida). the fruit is much smaller than the fruit that you have in your garden. i mentioned that the flower of the passiflora foetida is similar to that of the passion fruit.

i have since taken a liking to eating passion fruit - the one grown in your garden. i wait for the fruit to be fully ripe - when the skin is wrinkled - before i eat it. i leave them in the fridge before that.

i cut the fruit into halves, then using a metal spoon i will scoop out the seeds and the pulp. very nice when it is chilled - after being in the fridge for sometime.

Anonymous said...

Chuck said:
They sure look good... and I will drop by within this week to help myself to a few of them as per your email invitation...

Anonymous said...

I think here in Europe its yg's Passion flower(foetida) rather than the Passion fruit that grows. In my garden they(foetida) give very little fruit (small & orange coloured) and the flowers are indeed pretty like Chun See said.If I have a lot I cut them and place them in a bowl of water.However they only last for a day.It really is a passionate and mysterious fruit and plant.

PChew said...

During the Jap occupation I was living in a rubber estate at Chai Chee. Nearby the house was a bush, which was in fact a wild passion fruit plant for I could recognise it. There was no tree or anything standing for the creepers to climb upwards. On closer look I saw a brown fruit and quickly plucked it. I made a hole and sucked the contents inside. It tasted sweet and I liked it. I made a few trips there hoping to find some more fruit but in vain, and finally gave up.

Lam Chun See said...

Actually, other than the tiny orange ones that we used to eat during a spider-catching days, (see photo here), I have not tasted the passion fruit until a few years ago. I used to go regularly for consulting assignments in Indonesia and in the hotel room, they always provided a welcome fruit basket. Among the fruits in the basket was the buah su su.

Anonymous said...

Chuck:
I think the passion fruit is planted for commercial purposes not too long ago. During the early 70's I don't remember seeing passion fruits on sale. What we have during that time were wild passion fruit.They can be found in the hills around Bukit Gombak. (now a protected military base)I believe there are still wild passion fruit plants there. Unfortunately it's out of bounds to us. The wild passion fruit are not round as in Chun See garden. The shape and size is like that of an egg. When ripe, the colour is like that of a papaya.

PChew said...

Anonymous' description of a wild passion fruit is correct. I was wrong to say the colour was brown. My memory is more than 60 years ago.

slurp! said...

hi, as far as i know. common ones available here are Passiflora foetida (wild water lemon) & Passiflora laurifolia (Buah susu).

The one in this post is probably imported species - looks like one from sumatra.

look for yellow one (i think cultivated in malaysia) sometimes available in shengsiong), these have orangy flesh and very sweet & tangy juz like orange

Chiangmai also grow similar orange flesh passionfruit but the fruit itself is purlish (Passiflora edulis)

btw,there are also passiflora that does not fruits and only for ornamental purpose - e.g Passiflora coccinea

cheers ...

Lam Chun See said...

Thanks slurp for sharing this info.

Anonymous said...

Hi Chun See,

I was browsing for pic of a passion fruit. I did not know tht it was called buah su su. Actually, a doctor fm Chung Hwa medical Institute whom I did acupunture treatment recommended me to eat this passion fruit for my digestion problem. I haven't try it yet as I could not find any buah susu at the nearest supermarket at my place. Anyway thks for providing me with a pic of this buah susu.

Unknown said...

Thank you for the photo of the leaves on google images. On a rather barren side of where I live in the Virgin Islands, I planted a passion fruit but lost track of it in the bush. I thought it died because there is a dead bush there. Eight months later, I start seeing healthy vines with those leaves on it using the dead plant as a base for the vines. I now confirmed that it is indeed a passion fruit. Can't wait to see the fruit. Will give it plenty of water, which I recycle from bath water where i live. I think Passion Fruits are the tastiest fruit in the Caribbean. I think they taste better than anything available, even the mango, which is dear to the heart of people who grow up here. Thanks again, rob in st thomas

Obat Tradisional Kurang Darah Ekstrak Herbal said...

Kaya markisa yah itu ??