Lilikoi Sauce Recipe: Compliments of the Criswell Family

(this is a passion fruit...or lilikoi...isn't it magical?)

its a pretty great thing that i happen to have not one, but two friends who hail from the islands next door. When my friend Julia was over a couple weeks ago i showed her our passion fruit vine (lilikoi, she corrected me) and she proceeded to tell me her father happens to make a fabulous sauce and jelly with them!

this is good because little miss socal over here had never seen a lilikoi before this year. so Julia was able to get the recipe from her father and just in time for me to take advantage of the ripe fruit - i guess from what i read you know they are ripe when they get kinda leathery and even fall off...

it was a 2010 goal of mine to start getting into canning. i have had this crazy obsession this summer with home-made canned jellies and jams...i can't seem to get enough of it! so, of course, being the DIY-er i am...i think "how hard can it be?" then a bit of research later and turns out...it can get pretty hard...so this little recipe is a good start!

Here is the recipe...which is more for my reference than perhaps would be of help to you...unless you too find a lilikoi growing wild in your backyard :)

Lilikoi Sauce:

1 cup lilikoi juice

2 cups water

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water

Prepare lilikoi juice. Scoop out the seeds and juice from fruit and put in blender. Add ½ cup water to help liquify. Pulse blender on lowest setting to separate seeds from juice. Pour through a fine strainer using a spoon to force the juice through. Measure 1 cup lilikoi juice.  Place the juice, 2 cups water and sugar in a sauce pan over medium-high heat.  Take 1/3 cup of the water and cornstarch mixture and add it to the pan.  Bring to a boil.  Boil sauce for one to two minutes until thickened.  Sauce can be used right away or canned for longer storage.








this is the sauce after it thickened...i may have mussed this up a bit...and added too much of the cornstarch mixture...but - i never get too hard on myself with a first try at anything...

and here is one of the three teeny jars it made - one for each of my Hawaiian girls and one for me! 




After the next round of lilikoi are ready to go, i think i'll give the jelly a go! Cheers!