Chinola Juice

My friend back home lived in Venezuela as a missionary for the Mormon Church.  She told me that her favorite fruit was Passion Fruit, that it made the most delicious juice.  She said it was called Parchita in Spanish.  Well since I don’t speak Spanish—something I need to fix, I googled it so I would know what to look for.  I found that here in the Dominican Republic, they also love Passion Fruit, BUT it is called Chinola here.  So I picked up a bag at the local mercado and brought it home. 

I almost didn’t get any, I mean look at them—they look kinda icky.  But they had huge stacks of them, and all of them looked like this, wrinkly and icky, so I figured that must be how they are suppose to look.  So I I bought them and brought them  home to see.

I sliced it home and took a sniff, and thought mmm… what a sweet smell, like a great lotion from the Body Shop.  I tasted it… and it does not taste like it smells, it’s not gross, but a very tart taste.  My friend said to not eat the seeds, so I had to do some more research on the seeds and how to make the juice.  Turns out, you can eat the seeds, but they probably taste like seeds, but I did find out how to make the juice.

Scoop the fruit into the blender, add 3 cups water.  Blend for 1 minute.  Strain juice to remove large bits of seed.  Add1 cup sugar and mix.  DELICIOUS! 

Since making it, I also ordered some Chinola juice at a restaurant, just to taste it to see if I got it right.  Mine was a little lighter on sugar, so I will taste test it next time and maybe add more.  I am excited to make it again and again through out our travels as we find it.