<p>Passion fruit is one of those rare ingredients that does a great deal with very little. Its acidity and aroma are concentrated enough to change the character of a dessert or a drink on their own.</p><p>The most common mistake is eating it while the skin is still smooth. <strong>The more wrinkled the skin, the sweeter the fruit.</strong> Wrinkling is a sign of ripeness, not spoilage.</p><h3 class="th-h">Ways to use it</h3><ul class="th-list"><li><strong>At its purest:</strong> Halve it and eat the pulp with a spoon. The seeds are edible and add a pleasant crunch.</li><li><strong>In desserts:</strong> Spoon over cheesecake, panna cotta or plain yoghurt; it brings acidity without weighing the dish down.</li><li><strong>In drinks:</strong> Strain the pulp and mix with sugar syrup for lemonades and cocktails.</li><li><strong>As a curd:</strong> Simmer gently with butter, sugar and egg yolk to make passion fruit curd.</li><li><strong>In savoury cooking:</strong> A few spoonfuls of pulp over grilled white meat or seafood works unexpectedly well.</li></ul><p>The pulp freezes well in ice-cube trays, so you can keep it to hand out of season. One cube is usually enough for a single portion of dessert or a drink.</p>

<p>Dragon fruit (pitaya) is a cactus fruit, and choosing it is as distinctive as it looks. The difference in flavour between a well-chosen fruit and one picked early is considerable.</p> <p>There are two main types. The <strong>white-fleshed</strong> variety is fresher and lower in acid, with restrained sweetness. The <strong>red-fleshed</strong> variety is markedly sweeter, with a far more intense colour.</p> <h3 class="th-h">What to look for</h3> <ul class="th-list"> <li>The skin should be a lively pink-red, without large dull patches.</li> <li>It should give slightly when pressed in the palm; rock-hard fruit is not ripe yet.</li> <li>Tips of the scales drying and browning slightly is a sign of ripeness, not a defect.</li> <li>Fruit that is very soft, weeping or wrinkled is past its best.</li> </ul> <p>Eating it is simple: halve it and spoon it straight out. The skin is not eaten. You can dice it into yoghurt, or use frozen chunks as a smoothie-bowl base — the red-fleshed type lends a natural magenta colour. Served chilled, its aroma reads more clearly.</p>

<p>There is a common misconception about exotic fruit: that all of it belongs in the fridge. In fact much tropical produce is damaged by cold — the texture breaks down and the aroma stalls before it develops. This is known as <em>chilling injury</em>.</p><h3 class="th-h">If you want to speed ripening up</h3><ul class="th-list"><li><strong>Keep out of the fridge:</strong> Kiwano, sweet potato, and mango, avocado and papaya while still firm. Ripen these at room temperature.</li><li><strong>Fridge once ripe:</strong> Mango, avocado, papaya and dragon fruit will keep a few more days in the cold after ripening.</li><li><strong>Straight into the fridge:</strong> Raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, golden berries, asparagus and limes.</li><li><strong>Cool, dry cupboard:</strong> Whole coconut and tamarind still in the pod.</li><li><strong>Wrapped in paper, in the crisper:</strong> Fresh ginger and fresh turmeric — a plastic bag traps moisture and speeds up mould.</li></ul><p>Put a firm mango or avocado in a paper bag with a banana. The ethylene the banana gives off will noticeably accelerate ripening. The reverse also holds: keep anything you do not want ripening yet away from bananas.</p>