The generous grenadilla

I am always humbled by nature. Over the years I have learned to be patient with my garden.  About four years ago, I planted a grenadilla that was supposed to cover the trellis-screen I made to hide the three compost bins in a corner of the vegetable garden.
 

After the first year, the grenadilla jumped the trellis-screen and decided to grow into the neighbour’s overhanging tree. The fruit in the first year was not worth mentioning. I thought it would be no harm for the vine to grow into the tree.

The grenadilla loved this new-found freedom. In no time it was nearly at the top of the tree. In the second year the harvest was a bit more promising. With the fruit out of reach, I had to trust Nature to deliver them in her own time. The grenadillas hanging above the fence had an equal chance of falling into our garden or in the neighbour’s. When I walked past the vine I would silently will the wind to favour our side.

In the second year, the small crop of grenadillas allowed us to enjoy them as-is. Last year, our neighbour approached me about felling the tree that the granadilla was climbing. Every time I hear of a big tree that is about to be cut down I feel sad. Trees take a long time to grow really big and become a presence in a landscape. I looked at the grenadilla and asked if we could wait a year until after the grenadilla harvest. My neighbour agreed and I could hear the grenadilla heave a sigh of relief.

Grenadilla cordial

I am not sure if it is the imminent prospect of being cut down, but the grenadilla has been over generous with its fruit this year. So much so, that when I now walk past the vine, I silently will the wind to favour the neighbour’s side when the fruit drops.

Marbelized grenadilla cheesecake 

It seems that every bowl and basket in the house has been filled with grenadillas. They fill the rooms with their exotic fragrance of purple fruit.

With a generous harvest comes the preserving of the fruit. I have made grenadilla mousse, grenadilla fridge tarts, (which seem to be the most popular way of using grenadillas), grenadilla cordial and grenadilla liqueur.

In my search for uses for the grenadilla pulp, I came across a book published in 1910 called ‘Poppy, the story of a South African girl’ by Cynthia Stockley. In a description of Poppy in the garden, there is a mention of using the pulp with port wine and cream, as well as a description of the flower that made me look at it differently. The description on page 81 reads as follows.

5 loaves and 3 fishes

 “The third one she came to was only a small hut of a place, but it had a long spire to its roof, and from thence trailed and hung long lines and stalks of the passion plant everyone knows it : vine-leaved, with great round cream-coloured flowers, a purple outer ring divided into ten thousand tiny leaves, signifying the crowd that gathered to listen to Christ on the Mount; and in the centre, mysteriously arranged, like the dishes upon the table of some oracle, the three loaves and the five fishes! They call it the grenadilla in Africa, and eat its fruit with port wine and cream.”

While the grenadilla is still producing fruit, I have the luxury of exploring new ways of eating and preserving them. It might well be my last year of generous grenadillas, but I will be sure to make lots of cuttings. I will probably plant them in the orchard where they can grow to their pips content.

Some useful information on growing grenadillas from the National Department of Agriculture can be found here http://www.arc.agric.za/arc-itsc/Leaflets%20Library/Cultivating%20granadillas.pdf

Using grenadillas

Grenadilla Sorbet

Grenadilla Liqueur