Get in the Mood with These Passion Fruit Cocktail Recipes
Sam Treadway of Backbar, Tainah Soares of A4cade, and more local bartenders share their recipes highlighting this juicy favorite.
Passion Fruit margarita at Burro Bar. / Photo provided
It’s not only aptly named for romantically themed imbibing—the passion fruit is also considered an aphrodisiac. The fruit, common in South America, is a good source of several vitamins and minerals. A few could contribute to its stimulating reputation—vitamin A contributes to healthy skin and what we think of as that lusty glow. Fiber helps you stay, let’s say, comfortable on the inside, priming you for closeness. And potassium helps regulate heart rate and blood pressure, keeping your blood pumping.
But the fruit is also just straight-up delicious. The juicy, sweet tartness of passion fruit is a favorite flavor for bartenders, as it pairs well with other fruits, warm spices, and several different liquors. Passion-seeking drinkers can find it on cocktail menus around Boston, including in Todd Maul’s festive Rum Barrel for two at Café ArtScience.
We asked a few local bartenders to share recipes for their passion fruit interpretations. All three drinks are available at their bars of origin, but if you and your honey are looking to get fancy at home this year, pick up some passion fruit purée or concentrate, which can both be found at many international markets, Whole Foods, and online, stock your at-home bar, and have a good time.
Passion Fruit Margarita at Burro Bar
At the latest from the Alpine Restaurant Group (Rosebud, Posto, the Painted Burro), director of operations Alec Riveros debuted a passion fruit take on the signature drink this past weekend, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
2 oz. Agavales Blanco tequila
1 oz. passion fruit purée
.5 oz. Combier
.5 oz. Demerara
2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
Build all ingredients into shaker and strain into a glass over fresh ice. Garnish with orange or lime, and a salted rim if that’s your fancy.
Coco Passion for Two at Backbar
Sam Treadway, owner and manager at Backbar, features another well-known aphrodisiac—chocolate—in this shareable mug. He ignites a quarter-ounce of high-proof Plantation Rum for added drama—but that’s a move we recommend saving for the professionals.
2 oz. Diplomatico Exlusiva Reserva rum
.5 oz. fresh pineapple juice
.5 oz. fresh lime juice
.5 oz. Tempus Fugit crème de cacao
.5 oz. passion fruit concentrate
2 dashes Angostura bitters
6 drops salt water
.25 oz Plantation OFTD high proof rum (float)
Shake all ingredients, besides the high-proof rum, with ice, then strain over crushed ice in a hurricane glass or tiki mug. Garnish with a lime shell filled with the high-proof rum, and light with match. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon to spark the flame.
Land Shark at A4cade
This whimsical riff on Trader Vic’s classic Fog Cutter uses passion fruit as a taste of home for bar manager Tainah Soares, who grew up eating the fruit daily in Brazil. The “flavor that always takes me home,” she says. “It’s a well-known aphrodisiac that you should definitely be having year-round.”
.75 oz. Privateer Tiki Gin
.75 oz. Maison Rouge Cognac
.75 oz. Angostura 7-Year Rum
.75 oz. Lustau Amontillado Sherry
.25 oz. Giffard Blue Curacao
.75 oz. passion fruit simple syrup (recipe follows)
.75 oz. lime juice
Passion Fruit Simple:
Mix two parts water with one part sugar to make simple syrup, then mix equal parts passion fruit concentrate and simple syrup.
To make the drink, build it in a glass and shake without ice (dry-shake), then pour it into a Tiki Mug over crushed ice.
“Garnish with fun things, like a drink umbrella and a small toy, an edible orchid, twirly straws, a mint sprig,” Soares says. “Follow your heart!” Wink, wink.
