How many kilos of passion fruit make 1 kg of freeze-dried?
5–6 kg of seed-in passion fruit puree make 1 kg of freeze-dried passion fruit with no added sugar. Go back one step further, to the fruit as it is harvested, and the figure is about 10–13 kg of whole passion fruit, rising in the rainy season.
Those two numbers set the floor under every honest quote. An offer that lands well below it is not a better deal on the same product. It is a different product: wetter, sweetened, or bulked out with something that is not passion fruit.
Why does it take 5–6 kg of puree?
Because passion fruit pulp is mostly water. Central Highlands pulp runs at about 13–17 °Brix, which puts its water content at roughly 82–84%. Freeze-drying takes the cube down to ≤5.0% moisture, so what goes into the bag is almost entirely the fruit’s own solids: its sugars, acids, seed oil and fibre.
The arithmetic is short. A kilo of puree at 83% water holds about 170 g of solids. A kilo of finished cubes at 4% moisture holds 960 g. Divide one by the other and you need about 5.6 kg of puree per finished kilo. Low-Brix rainy-season pulp pushes the ratio toward 6; sweeter dry-season pulp brings it toward 5. That swing is the season, not a supplier’s error, and it is why FruitBuys quotes the ratio as a range.
Nothing is added to close the gap. The ingredient line on FruitBuys freeze-dried passion fruit is 100% passion fruit with seeds: no sugar, no maltodextrin, no carrier.
How many kilos of whole fruit is that?
The seed-in pulp is only 45–50% of the whole passion fruit; the rest is the thick rind. So 5–6 kg of puree means roughly 10–13 kg of whole fruit per kilo of freeze-dried product.
Then add the culls. Fruit that is split, under-ripe or damaged is sorted out before it is opened, typically 5–15% of what arrives, with the high end in the rainy months when skins crack and fruit ripens unevenly.
| Season | Puree per kg finished | Whole fruit (before culls) | Whole fruit bought, incl. culls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry season, sweeter pulp | about 5 kg | about 10 kg | about 11 kg |
| Rainy season, wetter pulp | about 6 kg | about 13 kg | about 15–16 kg |
That last column is what a farm-gate buyer actually pays for. It explains why passion fruit prices move through the year even when the finished specification does not, and why booking volume ahead of the rainy months protects your cost.
What does a too-cheap quote usually hide?
There are three ways to sell freeze-dried passion fruit below the cost of 5–6 kg of puree, and each one shows up on paper if you know where to look.
Added sugar or a carrier. Sugar syrup or maltodextrin adds weight at a fraction of the cost of fruit solids. Under EU Regulation 1169/2011 on food information to consumers, every added ingredient must appear on the ingredient list, and the US Nutrition Facts panel under 21 CFR 101.9 must declare added sugars. If the supplier’s own spec sheet lists only “passion fruit” but the sample tastes candied, ask for the nutrition panel.
The real cost shows up in your own plant. Diluted fruit carries less acidity and aroma per gram, so your R&D team has to raise the inclusion rate to get the same tartness: from 2–3% of a chocolate bar or cereal mix with 100% fruit to 5–6% with a sugar- or carrier-loaded piece. The cheaper kilo ends up costing more per finished pack.
Extra water. A cube released at 8% moisture instead of 4% carries 40 g more water in every kilo you pay for, and it softens on the shelf long before its printed date. On your line it gets worse: cubes above aw 0.30 turn gummy, bridge in the dosing hopper of an automatic cereal or snack packer, and stop the line for cleaning. The release limits that stop this are set out in what moisture and water activity freeze-dried passion fruit should meet.
Fines sold as cubes. Broken pieces cost less to produce because they come from trimmings and slab edges. If the bottom of the bag is full of dust, you are paying the cube price for powder. On shelf, that dust coats the oats and nuts in a dull yellow film, and the sharp gold cubes with black seeds that should catch the eye through a window pouch disappear.
How do you check a quote in three lines?
Use this before you compare any two offers, including ours.
- Fruit floor: local seed-in puree price per kg × 5–6 = minimum fruit cost per finished kg.
- Process and pack: add freeze-drying, dicing, foil bags with desiccant and cartons.
- Compare: if the quote sits well below lines 1 + 2, check the ingredient line, the moisture and aw on the COA, and the fines at the bottom of the sample bag.
Then run three quick checks against the product itself:
| Check | What genuine seed-in product shows | What a diluted product shows |
|---|---|---|
| Total sugars on the nutrition panel | about 36 g per 100 g | well above 36 g: sugar has been added |
| Dietary fibre | about 20 g per 100 g, mostly from the seeds | well below 20 g: filler or seeds removed |
| Taste straight from the bag | sharp, tart, aromatic | sweet first, sour second |
These figures come from an independent ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory panel on FruitBuys seed-in finished product; the full panel and what it means for your label are in freeze-dried passion fruit nutrition per 100 g.
Does the seedless version change the ratio?
Yes, and that is why it costs more. Taking the seeds out removes part of the solids you have already paid for, and adds a separation step on the line. Seedless passion fruit is made to order at a higher price; the trade-off between the two is laid out in seed-in or seedless freeze-dried passion fruit.
The 5–6 kg ratio is a raw-material standard for costing; the factor used for EU pesticide residue checks (about 5.6) is set separately in the export dossier from the lot’s measured moisture.
When does this ratio not apply?
When the product is not 100% fruit. Sweetened, sugar-infused or carrier-based passion fruit pieces are built on a different recipe, and comparing their price against seed-in freeze-dried cubes on a per-kilo basis tells you nothing. Compare like with like: same ingredient line, same moisture, same cube size.
Get a quote built on the real ratio
Send your cube size, seed-in or seedless, volume and delivery months. FruitBuys returns a quote with the specification it is built on, so you can line it up against any other offer using the three checks above. Product details are on the freeze-dried passion fruit page, and the full buyer checklist is in what to check before buying freeze-dried passion fruit in bulk.
FAQ
How much fresh passion fruit makes 1 kg of freeze-dried?
About 10–13 kg of whole fruit, or 5–6 kg of seed-in puree. Culls in the rainy season push the whole-fruit figure to about 15–16 kg.
Why is freeze-dried passion fruit expensive?
Because roughly 83% of the pulp is water and the rind is about half the fruit, so each finished kilo carries the solids of 10–13 kg of passion fruit.
Is sugar added to make up the weight?
Not in FruitBuys product. It is 100% passion fruit with seeds; total sugars of about 36 g per 100 g are the fruit’s own.
Why do passion fruit prices change through the year?
Rainy-season pulp is wetter and more fruit is culled, so each finished kilo needs more raw fruit. Booking volume before the rainy months protects your cost.
Does seedless cost more?
Yes. Removing the seeds lowers yield and adds a processing step, so it is made to order at a higher price.
