Bamboo Trellis & Lilikoi

I bought a purple lilikoi vine the other day and want to add it to the main garden area. Lilikoi (aka- passionfruit) grows as a climbing vine, so it needs support of some sort. I have yellow lilikoi growing up a dead tree. But I'm out of dead trees that could be used for another trellis, so I'm making one instead. I thought that entering into the main garden area through a lilikoi tunnel could be cool. So that's where I built the trellis. 

Trellis at the mauka entrance of the main garden. 

Trellises can be built out of all sorts of materials, and in all sorts of ways. For this project, I chose bamboo. I have a bunch readily available. It's easy to work with so I'm told, and it's rot resistant. The bamboo clump I targeted has stems ranging from 1" to 3' in diameter. Just the right size. Picking out the 3+ year old pieces, a chainsaw quickly cuts them down. I didn't trim off all the side branches flush with the trunk because they will add support for the lilikoi vine as it grows. 

Trellis at the makai entrance to the main garden. 

Not knowing exactly what I'm doing, this being my first bamboo project, I had David help put the pieces together. And besides, this bamboo proved to be heavy. We assembled the uprights atop the soil, using t-posts driven into the ground for stability. Rather than screwing it all together right away, we wired it. This way we could make changes as we went along. Once I'm happy with the results, I'll 
go back and screw things in place. 

Both fat and thin bamboo was used. 

While the lilikoi vine is young, it will share the trellis with other temporary crops. Perhaps beans, or maybe peas.

Simple wire temporarily holding things in place. 

Lilikoi Starting to Bloom

I noticed that the vines are blooming already. According to my blog notes, they didn't start blooming last year until the beginning of June. But here it is, the end of April, and they're not only blooming, but already have immature fruits setting on the vines. Did the rain two weeks ago trigger this? Or perhaps last year the vines were later than usual in starting to bloom? Don't know. Guess I'll just have to wait until next year to see what the timing will be then. 

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to fresh lilikoi again. I still have two pints of juice in the freezer, so I have enough to last me for routine use until first harvest again. Boy, I love the taste of lilikoi! 

Start of Lilikoi Season

I picked my first lilikoi last week (4), and found another 8 on the ground this morning.

These first ones are on the small side, but I can see many beautiful large ones hanging on the vine....still green. Checking my notes, it looks harvest is right on time. Now if I can only remember for the future that lilikoi season is August-September. Good thing I have this blog, because I can just simply check my archives! 

Lilikoi In Bloom Right Now

This morning I stepped out the front door into beautiful sunshine, a rare occurrence lately in this very wet month of June. Taking the time to enjoy the view, I looked up a spied a beautiful flower on the passion fruit vine (called lilikoi here). Whoa, the vine must have been flowering for the past week or more and I didn't notice. There's even tiny infant fruits away up high in the vine. Fantastic. 

I've never noticed how long it takes the fruits to mature from the time the vine flowers, so this time I'm making a note of it. I'm curious to see just how long it takes. Does anyone know or have a guess? 

I am noticing that most of the flowers aren't resulting in fruits. Is that normal? I don't know because I never closely monitored the lilikoi vines before. But since most of the flowers are not setting fruit, I'm assuming that they are insect pollinated. I've never noticed birds or bats visiting the blooms. 

Well, looks like I'm no expert when it comes to lilikoi. I do know that it loves to climb trees. It's easy to grow at my location. That it produces fruits seasonally. And that I love the flavor. 

Lilokoi Harvest Time Again

I haven't gathered lilokoi yet this season, so I figured it was about time I go foraging. I don't need too much since I still have several pints still in the freezer, but lilokoi is a seasonal crop so I had better make sure that I have enough to last until next year. 

I have a favorite spot for collecting lilokoi. Lots of other people also collect from there but there is usually plenty to go around. Sadly some other locations that harbored lilokoi plants have been bulldozed or weedwacked, so there is a lot less opportunities for foraging. But with the rains and warmth this year, what vines still exist are producing loads of fruits. 

Snuffling around my favorite hunting grounds I noticed two things right off. Very few people are collecting lilokoi this year. There were plenty of fruits laying around. And none of the usual annual debris had been cleared away. Second, the fruits were very large. I suppose the weather is the reason for that. These are the biggest lilokoi I've ever gathered. 

I also came upon lots of beautiful fungus. I don't know what it is called but I think it is a type of shelf fungus. Quite colorful. 

I was surprised to find another type of lilokoi growing in this spot. For years I've been collecting the large bright yellow ones. But there is at least one vine producing the reddish type. Bingo! I like these reddish-purplish colored ones. Glad to get some. I'll have to go back again next week to see if there are more of these. These lilokoi have a very slightly different flavor. Perhaps a tad sweeter, or perhaps a bit less of a tart bite. 

Basically they look the same as the yellow ones, except for color that is. And I use them in recipes the same as the yellows. 

A couple of weeks ago at the last canine spay/neuter clinic I worked at I was given a recipe for lilokoi mousse. The stuff was delicious. But alas, I lost the recipe. Well not exactly lost lost. It's now a pulpy wad of ink tinged paper that I found in my shorts pocket after I did the laundry. Oops. Forgot to empty the pockets! I need to get that recipe again. It was so good that I'll post in on the blog for you. 

Lilikoi - A Successful Hunt and the Reward

These past few weeks I've been doing some foraging on my way home from town. Primary target....lilokoi, aka- passion fruit. I haven't bother to cultivate this fruit on my homestead because of the abundance in the general area. There are a number of lilokoi patches around. But I have noticed that some of the patches are considerably smaller. Die out from the drought? Not sure. The plants look healthy enough, but in some areas the old established vines are dead and dry.

This year there is a bit more competition for the fruits. I guess more people are discovering that foraging is socially acceptable. Or possibly it's because of all those lilokoi recipes handed out last year. Regardless, there seems to be more people stalking the wild lilokoi.

Washed and dry, ready to be processed into juice.

Already this year I've collected several 5 gallon buckets of fruits. That sounds like a lot, but lilokoi doesn't yield a lot of juice. Thus I'm still in the market for more. It's really easy to gather this fruit. When ripe, the fruit drops to the ground. Good thing, because the vines climb to the tops of trees. But just picking it up is a cinch.

Once home with my booty, I will wash the fruit in soapy bleach water, allowing it to soak for 10-15 minutes. Reason? The fruit was sitting on the ground. Slugs can carry nasty parasites and rats transmit leptospirosis around here. Besides washing the fruits as a safety precaution, I also wear gloves when I pick up these fruits.

Fruits cut in half and ready to have the pulp scooped out with a spoon. 

Once washed and rinsed, I let the fruits dry before cutting them. No health issues here other than trying to keep all my fingers intact. Wet lilokoi can be slippery. The rinds are tough. Combine those two features along with a sharp serrated knife, and I'm sure to slice my finger! The index finger on my left hand always cringes when my right hand holds a sharp knife. 

The inside of these lilokoi is full of seeds in a gelatinous fruit, usually orange or yellowish. Not a lot of juice but enough to be worth harvesting. Besides, the taste is wonderful.  

Pulp ready to be worked through the sieve. 

I use a spoon to scoop out the flesh into a sieve placed in a pot. Once I get a good amount of pulp, I simply work it with a wooden spoon. The marvelous juice collects in the pot. This is a very low tech method, but it works. 

Beautiful juice ready to jar up and store in the freezer. 

The juice looks just as pretty as it tastes. Au natural, it is tart, making it a good substitute for lemon. Lilokoi chicken. Lilokoi ice tea. Lilokoi meringue pie. But I use it to flavor sugar cane juice and smoothies.