Passionfruit

Wrinkly skin is usually undesirable, but not when it comes to passionfruit – fruit left until the skin wrinkles will taste much sweeter than fruit with smooth skin.

Passionfruit is the quintessential topping for pavlova, and they go nicely with other sweet rich desserts, too, by knocking back sweetness and dealing to the richness. If you have plenty of pulp, freeze the excess in ice cube trays in the freezer and transfer to a sealable bag or container once they are frozen. You will then have passionfruit pulp to drizzle over pavs or ice cream throughout the year without having to buy sweetened adulterated passionfruit sauce. If making your own ice cream, I favour straining the pulp to rid it of the seeds. Here are a few ideas:

*Use sieved pulp in a dressing in place of lemon or vinegar, adding lemon zest, a pinch of sugar, a little chopped chilli and mix with drained canned lychee and serve with roast pork belly.

*Add pulp to cupcakes and top with icing made with icing sugar mixed to a spreadable paste with strained pulp.

* Top a pavlova with lashings of cream, slices of green kiwifruit and spoonfuls of passionfruit pulp.