Sirup Markisa

the passion fruit cordial of North Sumatra: markisa pulp cooked down with sugar into a thick, intense syrup, bottled as the classic edible souvenir of Medan and drunk diluted with cold water

Origin: Indonesia

From the journey of Passion Fruit.

Dutch colonial horticulture carried the passion fruit into the East Indies, and it found its Indonesian home not in the steamy lowlands but in the cool volcanic highlands of North Sumatra, on the Karo plateau above Medan and around Lake Toba, where the climate suits the vine far better. Indonesians call the fruit markisa, and the region grows both the purple form and the large, sweeter yellow markisa known as erbis. What North Sumatra made of it is not a fresh juice but a preserve: sirup markisa, a thick cordial produced by cooking the strained pulp with a great deal of sugar until it is dense and glossy, then bottling it. Diluted with cold water or soda and poured over ice, it makes a drink of remarkable intensity, and because it keeps for months it travels. That is the key to its fame. Bottled sirup markisa became the definitive oleh-oleh of Medan, the edible souvenir that Indonesian travellers are expected to bring home for family and friends, and it is sold at every airport, station, and roadside shop in the province. In a country whose fruit basket is among the richest on earth, the markisa syrup of the Sumatran highlands holds a particular and affectionate place.

Ingredients

  • 25 whole ripe markisa (passion fruit), to give about 500 ml pulp
  • 700 g granulated sugar
  • 250 ml water
  • 1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
  • 1 pinch salt

Method

  1. Halve the passion fruit and scoop all the pulp into a bowl. Add a splash of the water and rub the pulp firmly against a sieve set over another bowl, pressing hard to extract the juice and leaving the seeds behind.
  2. Combine the strained pulp, the remaining water, the sugar, the citrus juice, and the salt in a heavy saucepan. Warm over a low heat, stirring, until the sugar has completely dissolved before the mixture comes to the boil.
  3. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally and skimming any foam, for 20 to 25 minutes, until the syrup has thickened noticeably and coats the back of a spoon.
  4. Take off the heat and cool slightly, then pour the hot syrup into warm, sterilised bottles and seal at once.
  5. To serve, pour a generous measure of syrup into a glass, top up with cold water or soda water to taste, and add ice.

Notes

The proportion of sugar is high by design: it is what preserves the syrup and lets it keep unrefrigerated for months, so do not reduce it greatly if you intend to store it. Both the purple markisa and the larger, milder yellow erbis are used in North Sumatra, and a mixture gives a good balance of perfume and body. For a cloudy, more rustic syrup some producers leave a proportion of the pulp unstrained. The same syrup is the base for the bottled markisa drinks sold throughout Indonesia.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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