Freeze-Dried Passion Fruit

Freeze-dried passion fruit cubes are the seed-in pulp of Passiflora edulis from Vietnam’s Central Highlands, shaped in square moulds, frozen and dried under vacuum into crisp golden cubes of 10, 15 or 20 mm. Nothing is added: no sugar, no carrier, no acidulant. The black seeds stay in, and they carry most of the 20 g of fibre per 100 g.

Guaranteed specifications: moisture ≤5.0% and Aw ≤0.30 on every lot COA; no added sugar, no carrier, no added colour.

For a cereal, chocolate or snack brand that means three things. A visible real-fruit cube on the face of the product. A front-of-pack fibre story without adding inulin. And an ingredient that ships in a standard dry container and keeps 12 months at ≤25 °C, so the freezer, the reefer and the thaw drip all leave your cost sheet. FruitBuys runs each contract in one locked partner facility and ships every container lot with a third-party COA. Buyers comparing suppliers can start with what to check before buying freeze-dried passion fruit in bulk.

Product specification

Moulded, not cut. The pulp is poured into square moulds before it is frozen, so each cube comes off the tray with full edges and its seeds in place. Nothing is sliced after drying, which is where cut cubes shed most of their dust. A few cubes freeze together at the mould wall; they are split by hand and the crumbs are graded off before packing, which is how fines stay within 3–5%. On a cereal line that means fewer broken pieces in the bottom of the box. On a chocolate bar it means a clean square with black seeds on gold.

Before moulding, the pulp is sorted by hand. Long stainless troughs under LED light, workers with tweezers and scrapers lifting out rind fragments and loose membrane. What can remain are thin white fibres, the membrane that wraps each seed. They are part of the fruit, and your QA team now has the answer before the first sample review asks.

Water activity is the line between a crisp cube and a sticky block. Passion fruit pulp is acidic and rich in soluble fibre, and both pull humidity out of the air. Once aw climbs past 0.30 the surface softens and cubes start to fuse at the corners. Lots are released on aw as well as moisture. Write both into your contract, and your QA team signs off the first container with a number instead of a debate. The limit-setting logic is in what moisture and water activity freeze-dried passion fruit should meet.

Seed-in or seedless

Seed-in is the standard, and for most products it is the better ingredient. Freeze-drying turns the seeds into a light, hollow crunch that survives in cereal and chocolate. The black-on-gold contrast is the first thing a shopper sees through a window pouch, and the seed oil carries a good part of the aroma. The seeds also supply most of the fibre and the natural polyphenols, such as piceatannol, that health-focused snack brands like to talk about.

Taking them out costs twice: a separation step and lost yield raise the cost per kilo, and the finished cube loses its crunch and much of its fibre. The seedless version is made to order at a higher price. Pay for it when the application truly needs it: smooth drinks, fine powders, products for small children. The trade-off by application is in seed-in or seedless freeze-dried passion fruit.

Yield: what a kilo of freeze-dried passion fruit is made of

It takes 5–6 kg of seed-in pulp to make 1 kg of freeze-dried cubes. The pulp is only 45–50% of the whole fruit, so at farm level that is roughly 10–13 kg of whole passion fruit per finished kilo, before rainy-season culls.

Use the pulp figure to test a quote. Multiply the local pulp price by 5–6, then add drying and packing. An offer that lands well below that floor is usually carrying added sugar, a carrier or extra water. Check the ingredient line and compare total sugars with the 36 g per 100 g below. The arithmetic is worked through in how many kilos of passion fruit make 1 kg of freeze-dried.

Nutrition (per 100 g)

Typical values for 100% freeze-dried passion fruit; natural variation by origin, season and ripeness applies. Lot nutrition panel available for label artwork. %DV on a 2,000 kcal diet.

The fat is seed oil, not frying oil, and the fibre comes mostly from the seeds. At 20 g of fibre per 100 g, this is one of the strongest fibre stories in the freeze-dried fruit range: a ready “high fibre” angle for the front of pack, set on your serving size in the destination market. The sugar side helps too. At 36 g of natural sugar per 100 g, passion fruit carries about 40% less than FruitBuys freeze-dried mango at 59 g, which is why it eats bright and tangy rather than candy-sweet. Claim conditions by market are in freeze-dried passion fruit nutrition per 100 g. For your printed label, FruitBuys samples your commercial lot and arranges the panel at an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory.

Formats and applications

Passion fruit works hard per gram. The acidity and aroma of Central Highlands fruit are concentrated by drying, so an inclusion rate of 2–5% gives a whole batch of cereal or chocolate a clear tropical note. That keeps ingredient cost per finished unit lower than with milder fruits that need a heavier dose to register. Demand is moving the same way: US searches for guava and passion fruit rose 17% year on year, according to Dole Packaged Foods’ FRUIT FWD 2026 trend forecast.

Any base wetter than the fruit softens it on the shelf, and passion fruit softens faster than most. In yogurt or a moist filling, coat the cubes or add them at the point of serving. Run a 4-week test in your real base before you lock the formula. The format choice by application is covered in cubes or powder: which format fits your product.

Passion fruit powder is a separate specification, milled from freeze-dried pulp. See the passion fruit powder page and what to specify for freeze-dried passion fruit powder.

Packaging

Bags are soft-vacuumed rather than nitrogen-flushed. An inflated bag wastes carton space, so you pay to ship air, and under stacking the foil creases and cracks; on passion fruit a cracked bag is a soft lot within days. The same organic acids and natural sugars start pulling moisture the moment a bag is cut, so bulk bags are sized to the batch your line runs in one shift: open a bag, use the whole bag. On the hopper, keep an opened bag to 30–45 minutes when the room is above 50–55% RH. Kept sealed in the bulk bag at ≤18 °C, usable stock stretches to 18–24 months, which lowers the risk of writing off slow-moving inventory. Bag, carton and loading choices are compared in how freeze-dried passion fruit should be packed and loaded.

Commercial terms and container planning

Floor-loading carries about 2.3 times the cargo of pallets. Palletise only if your warehouse cannot unload by hand; otherwise you pay more than double the freight per kilo. Carton weight works the same way: the same 550 cartons carry 3.9 tonnes at 7 kg or 5.5 tonnes at 10 kg. If one order is not enough to fill a container, consolidating passion fruit with other FruitBuys freeze-dried fruit in one container typically saves 15–20% of logistics cost per kilo against LCL.

Quality and documents

• Every full-container lot: third-party COA for moisture, water activity, total plate count, yeasts & moulds, E. coli and Salmonella.
• Periodic surveillance: heavy metals and aflatoxin are monitored through routine third-party surveillance at an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory; results sit below EU and US limits. Lot-specific testing is available on request.
• EU release gate: every EU-bound full container is released only on a non-detect multi-residue result for omethoate and dimethoate, run at an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory before stuffing. Other market-specific panels are arranged at an accredited laboratory of your choice, such as Eurofins or SGS in Vietnam, before the container is sealed.
• Claims: 14 days from devanning for packaging, appearance, fines and water activity; 30 days for laboratory results. If results diverge beyond method tolerance, the retained sample goes to an independent accredited laboratory agreed by both sides.
• Trial and LCL orders: in-house release QC log (moisture, water activity, sensory) plus the surveillance report. Independent third-party testing is arranged at net lab cost and credited in full against your first container order.
• Pre-shipment sample: 100–200 g from the packed commercial lot in two sealed foil pouches with desiccant, one for your sensory check and one lot-code sealed for your lab.
• Retained sample: kept from every container lot for its full shelf life.
• Facility control: one qualified partner facility is locked per contract. Any change needs prior written notice and re-approval of the pre-shipment sample. You have audit access.
• Facility compliance & certifications: HACCP, ISO 22000, BRC (qualified processing facility) and US FDA Facility Registration. Halal certification available on request.
• Shipment documents: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, COA, Certificate of Origin (Form EUR.1 for the EU and UK, Form CEPA for the UAE), and a phytosanitary certificate with every shipment as part of the standard FruitBuys export dossier, so your broker clears the container without chasing paperwork.

Import and labelling

• Ingredient line for private label: “100% passion fruit (Passiflora edulis)”. Add “with seeds” if your market or your customer expects the format to be stated.
• EU and UK: the cubes enter the EU at 0% duty for every origin under CN 0813 40 65 (EU TARIC). Form EUR.1 still travels with every shipment as proof of Vietnamese origin for your records and claims the UKVFTA preference in the UK. Vietnamese passion fruit is not listed for increased border checks under Regulation (EU) 2019/1793; the residue panel above is what keeps an EU container moving if that changes.
• US: HTS 0813.40.90 at the 2.5% general rate (US Harmonized Tariff Schedule), plus any US trade tariffs in force on the entry date. Freeze-dried passion fruit enters as a processed food under FDA rules. The nutrition panel is supplied in US Nutrition Facts format, built on your final pack and serving size.
• UAE: a C/O Form CEPA travels with every UAE shipment to claim the Vietnam–UAE CEPA preference; Arabic labelling and product registration are handled with your importer before the first shipment.

Codes, duty by market, the cubes-or-powder duty decision and the EU residue gate are set out in what freeze-dried passion fruit needs to clear US, EU, UK and UAE customs.

Verify the sample in three steps

1. Open and weigh. Check bag integrity, desiccant and net weight against the packing list.
2. Weigh the fines and measure the aw. Fines should sit within the limit for your cube size; at or below 0.30 the lot was dried and sealed right. Keep the second sealed pouch for your own lab.
3. Test in your product. Run a storage test in your real base and check crispness at week 1 and week 4. Approve the pre-shipment sample in writing; it becomes the reference for your container.

Comparing several suppliers? Line up their answers with what to check before buying freeze-dried passion fruit in bulk.

FAQ

What are freeze-dried passion fruit cubes used for?

Cereal, granola, trail mix, chocolate, ice cream and yogurt toppings, snack packs and drink garnishes. At 2–5% they give a whole batch a clear passion fruit note.

Are the seeds crunchy or hard?

Crunchy. Freeze-drying leaves them light and hollow, so they crack easily and stay crisp in cereal and chocolate.

Is sugar added to freeze-dried passion fruit?

No. It is 100% passion fruit with its seeds; the 36 g of sugar per 100 g is the fruit’s own, concentrated by drying.

What are the white threads in some cubes?

The thin membrane that wraps each seed. It is part of the fruit; the pulp is hand-sorted to remove rind pieces and foreign matter before moulding.

Do the cubes need refrigeration?

No. In the sealed foil bag they keep 12 months at ≤25 °C and RH ≤60%, and ship in a standard dry container.

Should I buy frozen or freeze-dried passion fruit cubes?

Freeze-dried for inclusions, snacks and dry mixes: 1 kg replaces 5–6 kg of pulp, needs no freezer and stays crunchy. Frozen pulp still suits sorbet and juice lines that need the fruit’s water.

Can I get it without seeds?

Yes, made to order at a higher price. Separating the seeds adds a step and lowers yield, and the cube loses its crunch and much of its fibre, so seed-in is the better choice unless your application rules out seeds.

What is the minimum order for private label?

500 kg for OEM, ODM and private-label packing. Digital-printed pouches start from 3,000–5,000 per SKU.

Request a sample and quote

Send these 12 details and we return a specification, sample and terms in one reply:

1. Destination country and port
2. Application: ready-to-eat retail or ingredient for re-processing
3. Format: cube size (10, 15 or 20 mm), seed-in or seedless, or powder
4. Fines limit, if you have one
5. Moisture / aw target, if tighter than standard
6. First-order volume: trial, LCL, 20ft or 40ft HC
7. Annual volume and preferred delivery months
8. Packaging: bulk bag size or retail pouch size
9. Private label: artwork status and labelling market
10. Extra tests required by your market or customer
11. Preferred Incoterm and payment term
12. Target delivery date

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