The fruit can be grown to eat or for its juice, which is often added to other fruit juices to enhance aroma. The fruit is eaten alone or in fruit salads, sherbets, ice cream, jams, cool drinks and as concentrates. Passion fruit is mainly used in jams, jellies, and fruit juices. It is used for medicinal purposes as a sedative, as well as a food source. As an edible fruit, it contains several components such as acids and sugars, nutrients, and non-nutritive phytochemicals that make passion fruit a tasteful and healthy addition to the diet. It is used for mood disorders (depression, anxiety, stress); insomnia and sleep disorders; headaches, migraines and general pain; stomach problems (colic, nervous stomach, indigestion, etc.) and to relieve menstrual cramps and premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
The yellow variety is used for juice processing, while the Purple variety is sold in fresh fruit markets. In Brazil, the majority of fruits in supermarkets are the yellow ones. The fruit has been used by the Brazilian tribes as a heart tonic and medicine, and as a favorite drink called maracuja grande that is frequently used to treat asthma, whooping cough, bronchitis and other tough coughs. Passion fruit still occupies an important place in South American traditional medicine, and in Peruvian traditional medicine the juice is used for urinary infections and as a mild diuretic. In Madeira, the juice of passion fruit is given as a digestive stimulant and treatment of gastric cancer.
By far the greatest benefit of passion fruit to humankind is its fruit and the delicious juice made from it. In addition to being collected by local people in the forests, the fruit is now grown in vineyards in dozens of countries. It is condensed, frozen, and shipped worldwide. The fruit pulp contains 2.2 percent protein, 0.7 percent fat, and 21.2 percent carbohydrates. In addition, the seeds contain 23 percent oil similar to sunflower or soybean oil, and the rind residue is used for cattle feed. The fruits of native and naturalized stands furnish food for numerous species of wild mammals and birds. The whole plant, especially the leaves, contains alkaloids and a number of other phytoactive chemicals. Among these is passiflorine, a known sedative and tranquilizer. Extracts of the leaves have been used for centuries as sedatives by native Brazilians. They prepare a drink from the flower to treat asthma, bronchitis, and whooping cough. The plant is also used as a diuretic to treat urinary infections. The nutritive value of passionfruit juice is given in Table
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