Passionfruit Butter

the antipodean answer to lemon curd: passionfruit pulp cooked slowly with butter, sugar, and egg into a thick, golden, seed-flecked curd for toast, scones, and sponge cakes

Origin: Australia

From the journey of Passion Fruit.

Passionfruit butter, known equally as passionfruit curd, is one of the small domestic classics of Australia and New Zealand, and it exists because of the backyard vine. A healthy passionfruit vine on a suburban fence produces far more fruit than any household can eat fresh, and the glut has to be dealt with; the answer, borrowed directly from the British lemon curd that the settlers brought with them, was to cook the pulp with butter, sugar, and eggs into a thick, spreadable preserve. The result is arguably better than its lemon parent, for the passionfruit brings not only acidity but a powerful floral perfume, and the little black seeds suspended through the golden curd give it a texture and an appearance all its own. It is spread thickly on hot buttered toast and on scones, folded between the layers of a sponge, spooned over ice cream and pavlova, and used to fill tarts and small cakes. Made in a bowl over simmering water and kept in the refrigerator, it is the standard way that an antipodean kitchen turns a February glut of passionfruit into something that will last a month.

Ingredients

  • 8 whole ripe passionfruit (about 150 ml pulp with seeds)
  • 150 g caster sugar
  • 100 g unsalted butter, cubed
  • 3 whole eggs, plus 1 extra yolk
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 pinch salt

Method

  1. Halve the passionfruit and scoop out the pulp. Press about two thirds of it through a sieve to give smooth juice, and reserve the remaining third with its seeds to stir in at the end.
  2. Whisk the eggs and extra yolk together in a heatproof bowl, then whisk in the sugar, the sieved passionfruit juice, the lemon juice, and the salt.
  3. Set the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the base does not touch the water, and add the butter. Cook, stirring constantly with a spatula, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the butter has melted and the curd has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon and hold a line drawn through it.
  4. Take the bowl off the heat and stir in the reserved seeded pulp. If any lumps of cooked egg have formed, pass the curd through a sieve before adding the seeds.
  5. Pour into warm, sterilised jars, cool, then seal and refrigerate. It thickens further as it chills.

Notes

The quantity of pulp needed depends greatly on the fruit; large yellow passionfruit give far more than small purple ones, and frozen passionfruit pulp works perfectly well out of season. For a sharper curd, increase the lemon juice; for a richer one, use all yolks rather than whole eggs. Beyond toast and scones, passionfruit butter fills a sponge cake beautifully, tops a cheesecake, and is the classic filling for small tarts and for the passionfruit melting moments of the antipodean biscuit tin.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
© 2026 The Gastrographer. All original research, narratives, and illustrations. All rights reserved.