Passion Fruit

Suggested As Industry For New Guinea Highlands

A NUMBER of people on the higher country in New Guinea are experi menting with passion fruit, and are anxious to know if there is a market any where for the pulp.

There is a market—Cottees Passiona Ltd., Marion Street, Leichhardt, Sydney, are seeking large supplies. The difficulty is to get it from the grower to the market. It has to be carried under re frigeration.

Before World War 11, the growing and export of passion fruit was an important industry on Norfolk Island, and Cottees were closely associated with it. The vines grew prolifically on Norfolk; the fruit yielded abundant pulp, of good flavour, and the containers in which it was col lected were frozen and put into cold store on Norfolk, and carried from Norfolk to Cottees factories in Sydney as refriger ated cargo on the ships.

When the war came, the New Zealand Air Force seized the freezer on Norfolk Island, and the industry just passed out.

No attempt was made to revive it after the war. The passion fruit vines had deteriorated, and the Islanders did not seem interested in restoring the planta tions. For the past five years, Messrs.

Cottee have been looking elsewhere for supplies, and the firm seems to be eager to see an industry developed in New Guinea.

As far as the NG Highlands are con cerned, transport costs are the main prob lem. Would it be possible to gather and freeze the pulp in the Highlands, and fly it out to refrigerated shipping space,

for transport to Sydney, and make it pav?

If the pulp could be canned close to the source of supply, and shipped around the world, the possibilities of the indus try would be widened. Unfortunately although research and experiments have been going on for years—especially in South Africa—no way of canning passion fruit, without loss of flavour and quality has yet been found. The South Africans believe they are close to success, however