PAPAYA PASSION PURIFIER.

On my last morning on Maui, I did what I do best here at home: I foraged.

We arrived home from Hana, the rainforested eastern side of the island, to find a huge branch from the avocado tree had fallen, bringing hundreds of half-grown avow down with it. My dad brought the wheelbarrow around so I could fill it to the brim. Clad in my linen and lace house dress and getting eaten alive by mosquitos, I scrambled around and under the jumble of branches and earth, gathering fruit.

There are few things more exciting to me than foraging. How lucky we are, to have such gifts from the ground. This juice is a celebration of the offerings from Maui’s ‘aina (land in Hawaiian). After the avocados were adequately corralled, I set out to find lilikoi (passion fruit) felled by Hurricane Iselle, sliced open papaya sunshine, poured out the last sips of coconut water from Hana, and blended these with fresh turmeric and ginger root.
Turmeric is an incredibly potent anti-inflammatory. Fresh, its rich flavor rivals the vibrant golden stain it leaves on everything it touches. Papaya provides bountiful gut-healing enzymes. Lilikoi is brimming with antioxidant vitamins A and C. And fresh coconut water is the ultimate antiviral healer, full of the cells with the same molecular structure as our own blood plasma.

Pure, healing power from the land.

Of course, if you don’t have all these ingredients fresh, you can make substitutions. But many grocery stores now have fresh turmeric alongside their fresh ginger, and you can sometimes find passion fruit at the farmers markets in southern California. Use all papaya if you can’t find fresh passion fruit, and packaged coconut water (I love Harmless Harvest, which is totally raw and delish, and available at Costco!) if you don’t have a coco on hand.