This Year, Passion Fruit Is a Star of the Menu

"At San Francisco's Peruvian fine dining restaurant Altamirano, the tuna sashimi is practically an abstract painting stroked with cilantro oil and bright orange splashes of passion fruit. My waiter explains the plentiful options for cocktails with maracuya, the Spanish word for "passion fruit." Across the bridge in Oakland, the popular Colombian spot Parche just started serving a new Caribbean salpicon of blue crab and passion fruit."

"All over the U.S, restaurants and bars can't get enough of the enchanting fruit, which comes into season from February to June and August to November, and the exacting tang it lends to just about any creation. Passion fruit has no limits, and the adoration of it most certainly isn't new; over the years, it's been spotted in pancakes, ceviche, and even chicken, and this year, tasting menus, pastry programs, and cocktail lists alike centering the tropical fruit."

Passion fruit appears across menus in restaurants and bars, featured in dishes from tuna sashimi and ceviche to roast chicken and pancakes, and in cocktails. The fruit offers a bright, sweet-and-tart flavor that complements savory, sweet, and pastry preparations. It comes into season February to June and August to November, providing bursts of sharp, sour tang. The fruit's tropical profile evokes escapism for diners amid economic and social uncertainty. Native to Latin America, passion fruit's popularity has risen alongside modern, fusion-leaning Peruvian and Colombian restaurants across the U.S., where chefs and bartenders spotlight it on tasting menus and cocktail lists.

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