Heh heh. I got you with that, didn't I? Couldn't resist.
slippery little buggers wanna roll around so I cut my thumb off...
I told you I'd blog about what to do with lilikoi, but first I thought I'd share the arduous process of getting the juice.
Alas, there's no shortcut. Cut carefully and scoop goo out of each one.
So…Yeah. Renaissance Man just came in and tried to video me with the GoPro. I told him I had to go change, put on makeup, and do something about my hair. He withdrew after comments about Martha Stewart wannabes. (Great subject for another blog; Martha, along with ML King, is one of my idols.)
Anyway, there's no shortcutting this process. I've tried feeding whole ones into juicers, and a gizmo called the Silver Bullet, all to no avail. The only way to get the gold of this juice that I know of is this way. Cut each *&^%!!! lilikoi and get the innards out, then squeeze the juice out of pulp and seeds.
I'm trying whirling the goo in a food processor to see if I can get more juice.
The seeds are encapsulated in a little sac, and there's loose juice, and pulpy stuff. It's all pretty much the consistency of something out of a horror film. But, it smells amazing. The whole kitchen smells like lilikoi, a flowery-tart-ripe-warm-mouthwatering scent like nothing else.
(insert Smell-O-Vision here- we're going to have that in blogs someday.)
Not too long or fast, or the seeds will get pulverized in!
I whirl it gingerly in the food processor to try and break up the sacs around the seeds and liquify the pulp a bit.
Squish squish squish stir stir stir
Now the boring part. I stir the goo in a strainer until it begins to get dry and pulpy.
Hardly anything for all that work! *annoyance*
OMG!*&^%$!!!
This is always my reaction. What a hassle, for so little! I know what comes next and so do you by now:
Repeat the entire process.
Yep. Repeat the entire process until lilikoi are gone. I used up all I had laying around the yard, which was 43 today.
Whew a lotta work for 2 cups of juice!
Yay! I have two cups of juice from 43 lilikoi and over an hour of work. At my rate of pay, not including picking up the lilikoi, I value this at $150.00. Liquid gold indeed!
My precious stash, ready for everything from Killa Rum Punch to lilkoi butter
I freeze it in useful-portion size ziploc bags, good for everything from salad dressing to meringue pie to lilikoi margaritas, which I plan to try this summer.
(The kitchen cleanup is a b*tch. I factor that in, and now the two cups of lilikoi juice are worth about 200 bucks.)
But hey, when they really get going this summer, anyone can come pick some up at my house. I'm pretty darn sure I won't have time to juice them all.
Anyone else have a fruit you love, that really makes you work for the good stuff?
YES: avocados. the d*@%! things have me running out back at all hours (snap, rustle, thunk — going to blog abt this) to beat the avo-loving critters, then i make TONS of guacamole all summer and spend the rest of my time dividing avos and making deliveries of fresh and guac. at the rates i charge, tho, my guac wd still be pennies compared to ur $200 lilikoi juice 🙂
hee hee! Awesome! Maybe we can trade- I love avos!!
Ill be over for a marg.
You better! *hug*
Lilikoi margaritas! When’s the next plane to Hawaii?
I made rumtopf last year with lots of fruit from our and my parents’ garden, which wasn’t as much work as your lilikoi juice seems to be, and we’ve still got some left. (Who’d have thought it’d last so long? 🙂 )
BTW, am I wrong in thinking lilikoi is the word you use for passion fruit, or is it a specific kind?
Lilikoi is the Hawaiian name for passion fruit, yes. And rumtopf? Vas ist das?
LOL… I got some Liliko’i from a friend and juiced them – thanks for the info! Considering it’s so concentrated I added 3x water for juice and some sugar and it was pretty good.
The fruit that absolutely KILLS me is Lychee. We have a tree and those buggers take FOREVER to all peel and seed (just too many to eat before they rot). I peel/seed them (for like hours) and then freeze them – yum right outta the freezer. BUT DAMN! When you compare the Liliko’i process to all those Lychee, it seems like nothing, hate to say it.
Aloha from Ewa Beach!
OMG, lychee juice??? I wouldn’t even try. Besides, they are so delicious just eating em! Mahalo for popping by to comment!