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.
 |
| 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!
Such a new world of fruits! God has given us such a variety to enjoy! Thank you for joining in our link up last week. Our new one is up and running... please join in :)
ReplyDeleteNever seen or heard of this fruit before.. It amazes me what do not know here in the US.. Thanks for showing us something new again!! keep it going!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Taxo before! At first I thought it was a typo and supposed to be "taco". Thanks for sharing a great recipe- just wish I would have access to taxo to try it out!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great fruit. Fruit is my favorite food group! I would definitely love to try the Taxo ice cream. Yum.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of this fruit before. I'll have to keep an eye out for it the next time we check out the farmers market.
ReplyDeleteI love these articles where you introduce me to exotic foods! It's funny how fruit has different titles in different places. A lot of things that have "Trinidadian" names, are called something different on other islands. This fruit looks good!
ReplyDeleteWhen I came to Ecuador and told the people here that I missed a fruit they would tell me to say the name in Ecuadorian, lol. Because most of the fruits do exist here, either because they are endygenous to the area are brought here. But they have very different names from those in the Spanish-English dictionary :)
DeleteI love the fact that I always learn something when I visit your site! I had never heard of a taxo before now. The experiences you must have had, you should write a book if you haven't already!
ReplyDeleteI thought of passion fruit when I saw it. I'd like to try some of the great fruits/foods you post about on here. How fun it would be to have that new variety!
ReplyDeletei guess i have seen this fruit somewhere i cant remember. this prolly good with icecream on a hot sunday day!
ReplyDeleteI have never tried Taxo before. It looks great. I can't wait to try it.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Taxo before! I am curious!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Taxo before, either. I love learning about different food from around the world.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of that fruit before. The drink looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteMichelle F.
I've never heard of Taxo before. This does look yummy though.
ReplyDeleteThis is a new one on me. :) I love hearing about different fruits and customs from you! :)
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this fruit. I would love to try it. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSeems like the name needs some ironing down in latin America! The issue seems to be consensus on spelling it.
ReplyDeleteThe differences in spelling in Ecuador have come through the years because there has not been a written Kichwa language before. The general spelling for the whole country was just developed less than five years ago. Before that the different regions of the country had their own spelling systems developed mostly by the missionaries for the dialect they were working with. The names in other Latin-American countries come from their indigenous languages that vary around South-America very much.
DeleteIt's strange that something that would taste so good would have seeds that didn't taste good. Very unusual and fun post. Thank You, Joanna!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Taxo before. It is interesting to hear that the fruit is rarely eaten fresh due to the seeds. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletenever heard of this fruit before.. it looks like corn on the inside. Don't know what to think of it.
ReplyDeleteIt's so fun to read about all these things we don't have over here. I'd love to taste Taxo!
ReplyDeleteLooks yummy and perfect for the summer season. I'm loving Ecuador, lots of great things need to be discovered :)
ReplyDeleteThis fruit is so new to me and I don't think we have it here and I think the smoothie made from this taste good but the labor of separating the seeds I think will need extra time.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting, I've never heard of taxo before! Do you just take the seeds out of the fruit kind of like a pomegranate? Thanks for sharing on Hump Day Happenings!
ReplyDelete