More than Lavender: Passion Fruit
Passion Fruit at the Farm Becomes Tincture
At the farm we also grow different varieties of Passion Fruit, also known as Maypop. My husband remembers growing up in Stockbridge, Ga and seeing the Passion Fruit vine growing along the roadside with its celestial looking star flower. The newest passion fruit he planted is called Possum Purple, which produces a a red colored fruit.
This amazing plant produces a pod looking fruit and once they are ripe you can actually eat the fruit inside. Look out - it does contain a lot of seed, which I don't eat. The taste is a mix between a lime and cantaloupe, in my opinion.
Besides eating the fruit, you can also use the flower to infuse in honey or make as a tincture. The health benefits of this amazing flower is know to relieve anxiety, ipromote sleep, and to promote relaxation. Passion fruit flowers have been used for centuries in traditional medicine.
So I gathered up some passion fruit flowers tonight and placed them in a mason jar to just below the rim and then filled with vodka. You can use 100% or 80% vodka. Now I will wait 3 weeks then strain out the flowers and pour into my dropper bottles. I will use a dropper full two or three times a day as needed.
Since I had extra flowers I added them to one of my honey jars and will strain them out in about 2-3 weeks. This is a perfect way to sweeten your tea in the evenings to promote sleep. If you are like my hubby he is always on the go and so trying to calm down at night can be a struggle for him.
