Geoff McCabe

Giant Grenadilla

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Giant Grenadilla Vine

We have a mature “Giant Grenadilla” plant growing on the farm, and a young one as well. This amazing, fast growing and huge vine is truly impressive. Right now as I write this there are over 100 of these huge fruits, growing up to 10 inches long, on a single vine, practically crushing the tree that’s supporting them.

Giant Grenadilla is a native to Costa Rica, and is a member of the Passionfruit family. The pulp of the fruit can be made into various recipes when it’s ripe and sweeter, or used as a vegetable when it’s still green.

This fruit has a serious problem with bugs. It tends to get something burrowing into it before we can get it. So we need to experiment with how to protect them. One possible way is to wrap them individually with bags to keep the flies off that might lay a burrowing larva. This is a common technique done with other types of fruits in the area such as Mangoes.