Passion Fruit Sour: The Recipe, and How to Batch It for a Party

The maracuyá sour is the drink guests ask about most. It is a pisco sour with passion fruit in place of some of the citrus: tart, fragrant, and finished with a soft foam. It is also forgiving enough to make at home.

For one drink

2 oz pisco
1 oz fresh passion fruit pulp, strained (about one ripe fruit)
¾ oz fresh lime juice
½ oz simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water)
1 egg white, or 1 oz aquafaba
To finish a few drops of aromatic bitters, or half a passion fruit

Method

Add everything except the garnish to a shaker with no ice. Shake hard for fifteen seconds. This "dry shake" builds the foam.
Add ice and shake again for ten to twelve seconds, until the shaker is very cold.
Strain through a fine strainer into a chilled coupe.
Let the foam settle for a few seconds, then add the bitters or float the passion fruit half on top.

Choosing the fruit

Ripe passion fruit looks past its best. The skin should be wrinkled and the fruit heavy for its size. Smooth, hard fruit is underripe and sharp. If you can only find frozen purée, use an unsweetened one and taste before adding all the syrup.

To batch for twelve

Combine the following in a jug and keep it very cold. Do not add the egg white to the batch.

24 oz pisco
12 oz strained passion fruit pulp
9 oz fresh lime juice
6 oz simple syrup

To serve, measure 4¼ oz of the batch into a shaker with one egg white, then dry shake, shake with ice and strain as above. Squeeze the lime the same day. Citrus juice loses its brightness within hours.

Variations

With tequila or mezcal: swap the pisco one for one. Add a pinch of salt.
With vanilla: split a vanilla bean into the simple syrup while it is warm.
Spirit-free: replace the pisco with 2 oz of cold jasmine tea and add ¼ oz more syrup. The foam and the fruit do most of the work.

Raw egg white carries a small risk and is not suitable for everyone. Aquafaba, the liquid from a can of chickpeas, makes a similar foam.