Mixers

Passion Fruit Syrup

Passion fruit syrup is passion fruit purée or pulp dissolved with an equal weight of sugar: we keep the house version, 1:1 by weight, a week in the fridge. It brings sweetness with a cooked passion fruit flavour and some acid. Our Hurricane uses 45ml, the largest measure after the rums, and three short sours use 15ml each.

Quick Facts

ABV0% ABV

Legal categoryNon-alcoholic

OriginFrance (modern syrup production)

Flavour Strengthmedium bold

SeasonYear-round

Our keeping timeCommercial, opened: one to two months refrigerated. Home-made: one week refrigerated.

Storage

Store unopened at room temperature. Once opened, we keep it in the fridge, resealed tightly. Shake before use if separation occurs.

Allergens

None of the 14 listed allergens. Recipes change: check the bottle.

The ingredient

About Passion Fruit Syrup

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

Passion fruitTropical aciditySweet-tart fruit

Tasting Notes

Highly aromatic with bright tropical fruit character, combining sharp acidity and rounded sweetness. Intense but clean when well made.

A house syrup of purée and sugar

Our syrup chart gives passion fruit syrup a 1:1 ratio by weight: 250g of passion fruit purée or fresh pulp warmed with 250g of caster sugar, never simmering, until the sugar has gone. Strain out any seeds before cooling and bottling. It makes about 400ml and keeps one week in the fridge, the house rule for fruit syrups.

Syrup, purée and liqueur are not equal swaps

Passion fruit syrup against the forms people swap for it

House syrup

Sugar: About half its weight
Alcohol: None
Keeps once open: One week, refrigerated
To replace 15ml of syrup: No swap needed

Bought syrup

Sugar: Varies by brand
Alcohol: None
Keeps once open: One to two months, refrigerated
To replace 15ml of syrup: 15ml, then taste

Purée

Sugar: None or a little
Alcohol: None
Keeps once open: A few days, refrigerated
To replace 15ml of syrup: Too sharp alone; add simple syrup

Passion fruit liqueur

Sugar: Sweetened
Alcohol: 17% for Passoã
Keeps once open: A year or more
To replace 15ml of syrup: 15ml, and trim the spirit

Form	Sugar	Alcohol	Keeps once open	To replace 15ml of syrup
House syrup	About half its weight	None	One week, refrigerated	No swap needed
Bought syrup	Varies by brand	None	One to two months, refrigerated	15ml, then taste
Purée	None or a little	None	A few days, refrigerated	Too sharp alone; add simple syrup
Passion fruit liqueur	Sweetened	17% for Passoã	A year or more	15ml, and trim the spirit

The purée and liqueur each have a page, with every passion fruit form compared on the fresh fruit page.

It is the Hurricane's loudest flavour

In our Hurricane, 45ml of syrup goes into the shaker with 120ml of rum split between dark and white, lime, orange, grenadine and a little simple syrup, then over crushed ice. At that measure no other ingredient tastes as strongly, so a weak, mostly-sugar syrup shows at once.

In the short sours it supplies the sugar

The Passion Fruit Daiquiri and Passion Fruit Margarita each shake 15ml with the pulp of one fresh fruit, which supplies scent and acid while the syrup supplies the missing sugar. Don's Special Daiquiri blends 15ml with Jamaican and Cuban rum, lime and honey syrup, briefly, until cold and frothy.

Using it

Using Passion Fruit Syrup

Usage

Our Hurricane shakes 45ml with two rums, lime, orange, grenadine and simple syrup. The Passion Fruit Daiquiri, Passion Fruit Margarita and Don's Special Daiquiri each use 15ml beside fresh lime, where it supplies sugar the fresh fruit lacks.

House Recipe

Ratio1:1 by weight (purée to sugar)

MakesAbout 400ml

Our keeping timeOne week refrigerated

Ingredients

250g passion fruit purée, or fresh pulp
250g caster sugar

Method

Warm the purée gently and stir in the sugar until it dissolves, keeping it below a simmer.
Strain it if you used fresh pulp, unless you want the seeds.
Cool, bottle, label with the date and refrigerate.

Food safety

It is mostly fruit, so treat it as fresh: refrigerated, used within the week, and poured away if it fizzes or smells fermented.

Pro Tip

Make it from bought purée for consistency. Fresh pulp works, but ripeness changes its sugar and acid from batch to batch, and a syrup that varies changes every drink it goes into.

Top Tips

Weigh the purée and the sugar. Equal weights give the house syrup; cups and spoons drift.
Warm it gently and keep it off the boil; heat dulls the fresh fruit.
Write the date on the bottle and pour it away after a week.
If you buy a bottle, read the ingredients: look for passion fruit juice or purée near the start of the list.

Possible Substitutions

Passion Fruit: fresh pulp plus simple syrup

Production Method

Produced by blending passion fruit juice or purée with sugar and stabilising acids, then filtering and bottling for consistency.

History & Context

The Hurricane, which uses this syrup at 45ml, is credited by the Oxford Companion to Pat O’Brien’s bar in New Orleans and its head bartender Louis Culligan; O’Brien claimed it came about during the Second World War, when whisky was available only to those who bought large amounts of rum. The Companion sets against that a 1941 Ronrico booklet, The Rum Connoisseur, whose Hurricane Punch used passion fruit syrup.

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

What is passion fruit syrup?

A sugar syrup flavoured and coloured by passion fruit. Ours is passion fruit purée or strained fresh pulp, heated gently with its own weight of caster sugar until clear. Bought versions range from mostly fruit to mostly sugar and flavouring, so the ingredients list matters more than the colour of the bottle.

How do you make passion fruit syrup?

Warm 250g of passion fruit purée, or fresh pulp, with 250g of caster sugar, stirring until no grains remain and keeping it under a simmer. Strain out any seeds, cool, bottle, date the label and refrigerate. It makes about 400ml, and we keep it one week.

How long does homemade passion fruit syrup last?

One week in the fridge. It is mostly fruit, so it spoils like fresh produce: discard it if it fizzes, clouds unexpectedly or smells fermented. A bought bottle, once opened, keeps one to two months refrigerated, or as long as its own label says.

Is passion fruit syrup the same as passion fruit purée?

No. Purée is fruit with little or no sugar, used for flavour and acid; syrup is about half sugar by weight, used to sweeten. Use syrup where purée was meant, at the same measure, and the result is sweet and flat; the reverse makes it sour.

What can I use instead of passion fruit syrup?

Fresh pulp plus simple syrup comes closest: for each 15ml measure of it, start with half a fruit's pulp and 10ml of house simple syrup, then taste. Passion fruit liqueur adds sugar and scent but also alcohol, so trim another spirit if you use it.

What drinks use passion fruit syrup?

Four of ours. The Hurricane uses 45ml with dark and white rum. Both fresh-fruit sours pair 15ml with one fruit and lime, the Passion Fruit Daiquiri with white rum and the Passion Fruit Margarita with tequila. Don's Special Daiquiri flash-blends 15ml with Jamaican and Cuban rum, lime and honey syrup.

Sources.

Correct as of 19 October 2026.

The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Chuck Taggart), “The Hurricane” (secondary source: introduced at Pat O’Brien’s bar; Louis Culligan credited; O’Brien’s account of the wartime whisky allocation; a 1941 Ronrico booklet’s Hurricane Punch with passion fruit syrup).

Make something

Made with Passion Fruit Syrup

Featured In These Cocktails

Hurricane Don’s Special Daiquiri Passion Fruit Daiquiri Passion Fruit Margarita

Often Used With

Updated 19 October 2026

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