The Passion Fruit Caipirinha recipe
passion fruit caipirinha
Cut the lime half into four wedges, cut out the white pith and place the wedges with the brown sugar in a sturdy old fashioned glass.
Muddle the lime five or six times with a muddler, pressing and twisting, until most of the sugar has dissolved.
Halve the passion fruits, scoop the pulp and seeds into the glass and press down briefly twice more.
Fill the glass with crushed ice and pour the cachaça over it.
Stir with a bar spoon from bottom to top, top up with crushed ice and serve with a short straw.
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The story
The Caipirinha comes from the state of São Paulo, but the fruit versions are at least as Brazilian. At beach kiosks and in bars, you often choose your own fruit there, and these variants are collectively called caipifruta. Maracujá, the Portuguese word for passion fruit, is one of the most popular choices, and that is no coincidence: Brazil is the world's largest passion fruit grower, and maracujá juice is an everyday drink there. Brazilian maracujá is usually the yellow variety: larger, with smoother skin and more acidic than the purple passion fruit sold in Dutch shops. The plant itself originally comes from South America, including southern Brazil and Paraguay. If you make this version at home with purple fruits, you need two to get the same amount of pulp.
The right glass
You make a Passion Fruit Caipirinha directly in the glass, so you need a sturdy old fashioned glass with a thick base that can withstand the muddler. A 32 to 43 cl model is large enough for lime, pulp, plenty of crushed ice, and 6 cl of cachaça. The wide opening makes muddling and stirring easy, and in clear glass you can see the golden-yellow pulp with the black seeds among the ice. A thin glass can break when you muddle. Browse our old fashioned glasses.
Stölzle Lausitz Kyoto Tumbler 43 cl (6 pieces)
Eclat Longchamp Tumbler 32 cl (6 pieces)
Both sets together € 61,90.
The right tools
For a Passion Fruit Caipirinha, besides the glass you use a muddler, a bar spoon for stirring, a jigger for precise measuring, and glass straws. These are the bar tools we use ourselves; you can find everything in our bar tools & cocktail sets.
Glass set (our choice 01) + 4 bar tools together € 100,75.
What do you make a Passion Fruit Caipirinha with?
For a Passion Fruit Caipirinha, you need cachaça. On every drink page, you can read the alcohol percentage, what it tastes like, which cocktails it pairs with and which glass you need.
Variations & twists
Use vodka instead of cachaça to make a passion fruit version of the Caipiroska: more neutral, so the fruit takes center stage even more. Blend cachaça with passion fruit, condensed milk and ice to make a batida de maracujá, a relative of the Batida de Coco. A few pieces of pineapple or mango in the glass make it more tropical. Find more ideas with this fruit in our passion fruit cocktails.
Serving tip
Leave the passion fruits on the counter for a few days until the skin becomes slightly wrinkled: that is when they are at their sweetest. Cut them open just before making the drink, as the pulp quickly loses its aroma. A short straw is handy: that way you can also drink the seeds and juice from the bottom.
Good to know
How to recognize a ripe passion fruit
A ripe purple passion fruit has a slightly wrinkled, dark skin and feels heavy for its size. Give it a shake: if you hear liquid sloshing, it contains plenty of juice. A smooth, shiny fruit is often not yet ripe and tastes sour and bland. Leave it at room temperature for a few days. It can also go too far: a dried-out, hollow skin means the pulp has dried out. An average purple passion fruit yields 15 to 20 grams of pulp. Store ripe fruit in the refrigerator, where it will keep for another week.
Why less lime than in the original
In the classic Caipirinha, a whole lime is used, providing all the acidity on its own. Passion fruit is already quite tart, especially when just ripe. Adding a whole lime makes the drink sharp and masks the fruit's floral aroma. Half a lime cut into four wedges is enough: you get the oils from the peel and some of the juice, while the passion fruit does the rest. Keep the two teaspoons of cane sugar unchanged. Taste through a straw after stirring; if it is too tart, stir in another half teaspoon of sugar.
Seeds: leave them in or strain them
Passion fruit seeds are edible and are simply part of the drink in Brazil. They add a lightly crunchy texture and a little nutty bitterness. If you prefer not to use them, first press the pulp through a sieve with the rounded side of a spoon and use only the juice: allow 1 to 1.5 cl per fruit. You will lose some aroma, though, because part of it is in the pulp around the seeds. A middle ground is to strain the pulp from one fruit and scoop the second into the glass, seeds and all.
Passion fruit purée or liqueur as a substitute
Out of season or when using unripe fruit, you can use purée: 3 cl per glass. Frozen purée is usually unsweetened; purée from a bottle is often sweetened, in which case you can omit one teaspoon of cane sugar. Passion fruit liqueur such as Passoã also works, but it is sweet and soft. In that case, replace no more than one passion fruit with 1.5 cl of liqueur and halve the sugar. This makes the drink rounder and less tart, but it loses some of its Brazilian character. Read more about this liqueur in the Passoa cocktail.
Which cachaça to choose
For a passion fruit caipirinha, choose an unaged cachaça, called prata or branca in Brazil. It is clear, grassy, and light, allowing the passion fruit to take center stage. Cachaça is distilled from freshly pressed sugarcane juice, and that green, slightly wild note is precisely what sets it apart from rum. Cachaça aged in wood, often called ouro, has vanilla and woody notes that compete with the fruit; it is better enjoyed neat. Pay attention to the alcohol content: 38 to 48 percent is common, and a stronger bottle makes this deceptively mild-tasting drink even more potent.
Passion Fruit Caipirinha for a group
A caipirinha is made per glass, even for a group. In a pitcher, the oil from the lime peel evaporates, and wedges left in the drink for a long time make it bitter. What you can do in advance: cut the limes into wedges and remove the white pith, scoop the pulp from all the passion fruits into a bowl and prepare crushed ice in a cool box. Then muddle the lime with sugar per glass in thirty seconds, add 3 to 4 cl of pulp and be ready within a minute. Allow for two passion fruits and half a lime per person.
Frequently asked questions
What is in a Passion Fruit Caipirinha?
A Passion Fruit Caipirinha contains 6 cl cachaça, half a lime cut into four wedges, two teaspoons of cane sugar, the pulp of two ripe passion fruits and plenty of crushed ice. Muddle the lime with the sugar in the glass, add the passion fruit, fill with ice and pour the cachaça over it.
How many passion fruits do you need per glass?
Two purple passion fruits, like the ones sold in the Netherlands. Together, they provide 3 to 4 cl of pulp. If you have the larger yellow maracujá from Brazil, one fruit is usually enough. If you use passion fruit purée, use 3 cl per glass.
What is caipirinha de maracujá?
This is what the Passion Fruit Caipirinha is called in Brazil; maracujá is the Portuguese word for passion fruit. It is one of the best-known fruit versions of the Caipirinha, made with cachaça, lime, sugar and passion fruit pulp, muddled and built directly in the glass.
Which glass do you use for a Passion Fruit Caipirinha?
A sturdy old fashioned glass of 32 to 43 cl with a thick base, because you muddle the lime directly in the glass. Then you add plenty of crushed ice, so it is better to choose one that is too large than too small. You can find a muddler with a flat head among our muddlers.
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