Passion Fruit By-product Uses Rise with Market Demand

Western Europe’s appetite for fruit flavors and nutritious food options is creating a growing demand for fruit purees, including passion fruit, according to Persistence Market Research (PMR). PMR’s upcoming global industry analysis reports, “With limited supply and even reduced supply of passion fruit puree, imports have reduced in countries with high demand such as the U.S., but this has only pushed more demand for the fruit at even higher prices. Europe also faced the same supply intervention but the demand has continued to grow.”

As passion fruit production rises to meet market demands and advantageous pricing, manufacturers are branching out and exploring the profitability of lesser-known passion fruit products.

Passion Fruit Oil for Skin

Pressed from the seeds of the fruit, passion fruit oil contains beneficial nutrients such as vitamins A and C, essential fatty acids, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, and carotenoids. These components make passion fruit oil a choice moisturizer, particularly for oily or aging skin.

Producer of natural and organic skin care products Annmarie Skin Care, explains that these nutrients allow passion fruit oil to protect skin against environmental stressors, firm up aging skin, reduce lines and wrinkle, and hydrate skin without clogging pores or leaving a greasy residue.

Interest in passion fruit oil products provides exciting growth opportunities for the industry, as many juices and jams use the stained and pressed pulp, but not the seeds themselves.

Passion Fruit Peels for Asthma Treatment

Over 400 million patients suffer from asthma around the world. A well-named 2008 study conducted by Dr. Ronald Watson and colleagues sought to document a new form of relief (“Oral Administration of the Purple Passion Fruit Peel Extract Reduces Wheeze and Cough and Improves Shortness of Breath in Adults with Asthma”). Asthmatic patients (all of whom began the study with a “wheeze”) received either a 150mg of passion fruit peel extract or a placebo for four weeks.

At the conclusion of the study the researchers concluded, “The prevalence of wheeze, cough, as well as shortness of breath was reduced significantly in group treated with PFP extract.” Only 19% of the treatment group still had a wheeze, compared to 79% of the placebo group. Shortness of breath also went from 90% to 10% in the treatment group, a 42% improvement over the placebo.

Though the study was small, Watson and company confirmed that purple passion fruit peel extract “holds promise to supplement or partially replace standard antiasthmatic drugs.” Additional studies suggest the extract may also reduce pain and stiffness for patients experiencing knee osteoarthritis.

Cattle Feed

Brazil is the world’s leading passion fruit producer, and in 2015 Dr. Guilherme Ribeiro Alves of Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso rightly acknowledged that passion fruit “is a culture under rapid expansion for production of both fruit as is and juice.” However, Alves also recognized that “fruit by-products, originating from the making of juices and pulps, do not have a defined market for their commercialization.”

Knowing that the repurposing of natural agro-industrial by-products as animal feed supplements can positively contribute to animal health while also lowering farm production costs and waste, Alves conducted a study to explore the value of passion fruit peels, pulp, and seeds as a cattle feed.

The study found that “Passion fruit by-product provides high intake levels, high digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein and neutral detergent fiber, and high weight gains. The “animals that received passion fruit by-product had much greater gains in body mass… than those fed sorghum silage.” Additional studies have reported an increase in milk production from cattle feed passion fruit peel flour.

As global passion fruit producers increase production to meet global demand, new products that utilize every aspect of the fruit will maximize value while minimizing waste.

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