Lilikoi butter is a passion fruit curd — lilikoi pulp, sugar, eggs, butter, cooked low and slow until it thickens. You spread it on toast, fill a tart shell with it, swirl it into yogurt, slather it on a Big Island scone. One jar covers breakfast, dessert, and a couple of cocktails. It's the small bright-yellow jar you see between the macadamia nut brittle and the honey at every Hawaii farmer's market — and you can make it at home.
Lilikoi is the Hawaiian name for passion fruit, specifically the yellow variety Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa, which thrives in Hawaii's volcanic soil (per UH CTAHR). The fruit was brought over from Australia around 1880 and quickly naturalized, so today it grows wild up and down country roads in Upcountry Maui, the Big Island's Hāmākua and Puna sides, and the wetter folds of Kauaʻi. Main fruiting season runs roughly June through January. The pulp is intensely tart and intensely floral — a single spoonful of fresh pulp will pucker an unprepared mouth — which makes it a perfect curd ingredient because the cooked sugar tames the acidity without flattening the flavor. The "butter" in the name is an older English-language convention: "fruit butter" has long meant fruit cooked with eggs and butter into a thick spread.
At a glance
About 2 cups (four 4-oz jars)
10 minutes
10 to 15 minutes
Easy (with constant whisking)
Ingredients
For the curd
- ½ cup fresh lilikoi pulp (about 12–15 whole fresh lilikoi) OR ½ cup frozen unsweetened passion fruit purée (Goya or frozen pulp on Amazon)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
- Pinch of fine salt
Equipment
- Medium saucepan + heatproof bowl (for a double boiler)
- Whisk
- Instant-read thermometer (optional but helpful)
- Fine-mesh strainer (optional)
- 4 small glass jars (4 oz each) with lids
How to use it
- On toast, English muffins, or coconut bread
- Tart filling (pre-baked shell, chill 2 hours)
- Stirred into Greek yogurt
- Cake-layer filling against buttercream
- A teaspoon into a rum-and-soda
Method
- Prep the lilikoi pulp. If using fresh lilikoi, slice each fruit in half and scoop the pulp (juice + seeds + flesh) into a bowl. You want about ½ cup. Whether to strain the seeds is personal — most Hawaii home cooks leave some or all of the seeds in for visual contrast and a faint crunch; the small commercial jars usually strain. I leave about half of mine in.
- Set up a double boiler. Fill a medium saucepan with 1 inch of water and bring to a low simmer over medium heat. Set a heatproof bowl (glass or stainless) on top — the bowl should NOT touch the water. This is what keeps the eggs from scrambling.
- Whisk the base. In the bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, egg yolks, and salt until smooth. Whisk in the lilikoi pulp.
- Cook low and slow. Place the bowl over the simmering water. Cook, whisking constantly (this is non-negotiable), for 8 to 12 minutes. The mixture will gradually thicken from a thin liquid to a custard that coats the back of a spoon. When you drag your finger across the spoon, the line should hold. Target temperature on an instant-read thermometer: 170°F.
- Add the butter. Off the heat, drop the butter cubes in 4 at a time. Whisk each batch until fully melted and incorporated before adding the next. The curd will become silky and glossy.
- Strain (optional). For a perfectly smooth curd, pour through a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl. If you like the seeds, skip this step.
- Jar it. Spoon into clean glass jars. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the warm curd (this prevents a skin from forming as it cools). Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. The curd will firm up considerably in the refrigerator over the first 12 hours.
Notes from a local cook
Frozen pulp works. Outside Hawaii, fresh lilikoi is essentially unavailable, but frozen passion fruit pulp (Goya is the most common mainland brand) and frozen Brazilian "maracuyá" purée are both excellent substitutes. Thaw fully and measure ½ cup. Close enough for most home cooks.
Whisk constantly. The eggs will scramble in 30 seconds of inattention. Set up your whisk before you turn on the heat and don't stop moving. If you do see any clumps form, immediately remove from the heat and whisk vigorously off-heat. Minor clumps will smooth out; major scrambling means you start over.
It thickens overnight. A curd that looks slightly too thin when you take it off the heat is correct. It firms up in the fridge for the first 12 hours. If it looks like a thick custard going into the jar, it'll be the texture of cream cheese tomorrow.
Shelf life. Refrigerated, lilikoi butter keeps 1 to 2 weeks easily. It also freezes well in small jars — defrost overnight in the fridge before using. Do not water-bath can homemade curd; the eggs make it unsafe for shelf-stable storage.
While You're on the Islands
Buy the ingredients fresh, or buy the jar. The KCC Farmers Market at Kapiʻolani Community College runs Saturday mornings and has multiple small producers selling lilikoi butter by the jar. The Hilo Farmers Market (Wednesdays and Saturdays) is the Big Island's main lilikoi corridor — Hāmākua-coast farmers bring it in by the box in season. The Upcountry Farmers Market in Pukalani (Maui), Saturdays 7 to 11 AM at Kulamalu Town Center, sits in the densest lilikoi region on Maui. The Kauai Community Market in Lihuʻe (Saturdays, 9:30 AM to noon) covers Kauaʻi. On grocery shelves, Foodland and KTA Super Stores stock several local-brand lilikoi butters and curds year-round in the jam section, including a Hawaiian Sun bottling.
Bring It Home
What to stock up on before you fly home: a jar or two of local lilikoi butter from any of the markets above travels fine in a checked bag and is one of the best edible souvenirs on the islands — pair it with Kona coffee from a Big Island farm tour for a gift that actually says "Hawaii."
What you can substitute, what you can't: a few cartons of frozen passion fruit purée ship and keep well if you want to make this yourself once you're home — same fruit, just not fresh off the vine.
Where to try this in Hawaii
