Taxo is a small, almost tear
shaped fruit that is yellow to orange in color when ripe.
Banana
passionfruit is the fruit of several plants in the genus Passiflora, and are
therefore related to the passion fruit.
They look somewhat like a
straight, small banana with rounded ends.
The banana passionfruit name was
given to the fruit in New Zealand, where passionfruit are also
prevalent.
In Hawaii, it is called banana
poka.
In
its Latin American homeland, it is known as curuba, curuba de Castilla, or
curuba sabanera blanca (Colombia); taxo, tacso, tagso, tauso (Ecuador); parcha,
taxo (Venezuela), tumbo or curuba (Bolivia); tacso, tumbo, tumbo del norte,
trompos, tintin or purpur (Peru).
Cutting open this fruit reveals
seeds galore, surrounded by a pulp.
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| Forest & Kim Starr [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
Because of the seeds, which have
an unpleasant flavor, this fruit is rarely eaten fresh.
The pulp has a somewhat tanginess
to the tongue and is most commonly used in juice and ice cream.
The yellow oblong fruit contains
the flavanoids or antioxidants that are included in so many foods to help
dampen the impact of free radicals in the body.
Along with the ravagers of free
radicals the Taxo contains Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Riboflavin, Sodium, Vitamin A
and C.
There are many cousins to Taxo,
as it is part of the Passiflora family.
It is of course related to the
Passion Fruit, Granadilla and Maracuya, all members of Passiflora.
Taxo ice-cream or sherbet is very popular in Ecuador
as Taxo smoothies.
It can also be made into juice and the tangy taste is
excellent for a refreshing summer drink.
Taxo Smoothie
Ingredients
1 cup of Taxo
1 cup of water
2 cups of milk
1/4 teaspoons of vainilla
3 teaspoons of sugar
Mix the taxo fruit with water in the blender.
Pass the mix through a sieve or colander.
Mix the juice with milk, vainilla and sugar in a
blender.
Enjoy!
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| Taxo growing at my backyard. Hopefully we'll get flowers and fruits soon! And then smoothies and ice-cream from homegrown fruits. |
Taxo ice-cream (without ice-cream machine)
Integrates
116g milk
powder
187 ml or ¾ cup cold water
290 g of sugar,
500 ml of juice of taxo
1 pack of 3 ounces (87g) of natural gelatin,
250ml boiling water,
3 egg whites,
187 ml or ¾ cup cold water
290 g of sugar,
500 ml of juice of taxo
1 pack of 3 ounces (87g) of natural gelatin,
250ml boiling water,
3 egg whites,
Mix in a pan of thick
seat powdered milk, sugar and
cold water.
Heat the mix, stirring constantly, and boil until it takes the consistency of thick
sauce.
Remove from heat to cool down.
In another bowl dissolve the gelatin
package cup of
boiling water and allow it to
cool.
When milk and gelatin are
cool, mix adding the taxo juice.
After stirring with spoon, blend the whole.
Finally mix with beaten egg whites until it is stiff and put the mix in the freezer to set.
Just before serving beat the ice-cream with a wooden spoon or electric mixer to make them soft and foamy.
Enjoy!
