A few weeks ago, I noticed that the bananas on my counter were looking a bit past their prime. Obviously, banana bread was the solution. But normally I like to add a twist to my banana breads! I couldn’t possibly make a regular old loaf of b-bread. So I looked around my kitchen and noticed a massive bowl of passion fruit. Duh, I thought. Bananas and passion fruit are a perfect pair. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?! So into the batter they went. Unsurprisingly, it was a good idea. The passion fruit flavor isn’t overwhelming, but it pairs very well with the bananas and makes for a sweet, fluffy loaf with a lovely tropical taste. I dug it.

Should I use fresh passion fruit or purée for this banana bread?

This is up to you, but I would go with a purée. Passion fruit purée is definitely easier to get. And frankly, it’s easier to use in baking. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup passion fruit purée. I know from experience that if you were to strain fresh passion fruit, it’d take about 10 fruits to get that. Because I was trying to use up an overwhelming passion fruit harvest, I went with fresh. But I did throw a couple spoonfuls with seeds into the mix! Why? Well, I thought the seeds would add a delightful crunch. Spoiler alert: they did. If you’re a fan of textured breads, feel free to follow suit. In addition to wanting to play with texture, I included some seeds to avoid using too many fruits. The seeds add quite a bit of volume, so I probably used about 5 fruits rather than 10.

If using fresh passion fruit, read this.

I touched on this in the above paragraph, but if you’re using fresh passion fruit you’ll need to decide whether or not you’d like to keep the seeds in it. If you opt to use the seeds, you may not want to use all of them. I would recommend using 2 or 3 spoonfuls. To deseed the fruits, simply strain them. I used a fine mesh strainer over a bowl, and I used a spatula to push as much fruit through the holes as possible! It worked like a charm.

What if I only have perfect yellow bananas?!

To make banana bread, you need some seriously sad looking bananas. I’m talking overripe bananas that look like they’re on the verge of death. If you’ve only got perfect yellow ones, however, fear not. You can easily ripen them in the oven! Simply preheat the oven to 300° fahrenheit and put the bananas on a rimmed sheet pan (things may get a bit oozy, so you’ll want the rims to prevent overflow). Pop the bananas (peels and all) in the oven until they turn black. This should take about 30-40 minutes. Pull ’em out, let ’em cool and they’re ready to use!

Garnishing Banana Bread

I love a garnished banana bread, so I added half a banana sliced lengthwise, along with some edible flowers (pansies from my garden) to the top of mine. To do this, simply add whatever garnishes you’d like to the top of the batter once you’ve poured it into your bread pan. If you’re using flowers, brush them with some neutral cooking oil before baking. This will help keep them nice and pretty. I learned this trick from my friend over at Must Love Herbs. She’s the queen of beautiful focaccia, so she knows her stuff. Of course, if you’re adding flowers, you must also make sure they’re of the edible variety! Either something you’ve grown yourself and know to be safe, or edible flowers that you purchased from the produce section at the store or farmer’s market.