Passiflora foetida in Oaxaca

Continuing on with my recent theme of edible plants, it was neat to have the chance to find Passiflora foetida fruit in the peak ripeness. The genus Passiflora contains what we call passionflowers or passionfruit. Along with some fascinating relationships with caterpillars/butterflies and ants, many of the species produce edible (and more importantly palatable) fruit.

This species can have the skin of the fruit yellow or red colored. 

Like other passion fruit, the black seeds are held in the white, juicy pocket that is what we eat. In this case, the red skin of the fruit is soft and spongy, much easier to break open than the Passiflora edulis that we eat as passion fruit.