Was it a crime of passion -- fruit?

Thanks to someone having a Dr.'s appointment that brought them to the vicinity of the Vienna Bakery in Barrington, RI we had a nice pecan tart - there version of a pecan pie - today.  I don't think there is anything that the Vienna Bakery makes that we don't like and this was no exception.  This is a tart and not a pie so the layer of filling - usually made from corn syrup or molasses - is not as thick as in some of the commercial pies nor was it as gooey nor as sickeningly sweet as some of them can be.  It was just about right when it comes to the sugar and as always it was well presented and had plenty of pecans.  A bit more whipped cream instead of just the decorative florets might have been nice but that did not take away from the appreciation.

Pecan Tart courtesy of Vienna Bakery

Plenty of pecans topped with whipped cream florets!

Not the usual pie at all!

The lack of extra whipped cream, however, was offset by the presence of something unexpected - a bowl of passion fruit mousse.  This is apparently a specialty of South America where it is known as Mousse de Maracuyá.  It is particularly popular in Brazil so it seems. We don't know where the whole thing started but one of our mentees has a Colombian heritage.  Having learned somehow about passion fruit mousse the mentor "suggested" that the colleague should make some and bring it in.  The mentee finally gave in and prepared a bowl that made its appearance today as already mentioned.  It did not go bad with the pecan pie at all. It has a citrusy taste and a bit of tartness.  It was not too sweet which offset the sweetness of the pecan tart. It was hard to discern what the actual flavor of the passion fruit was but regardless it was a nice treat and we are always happy to try something new.  Thanks to our colleague for being a good sport making it for us.

It's not whipped cream next to that pecan tart!

It's Mousse de Maracuyá

Closeup view of the passion fruit concoction!

It's got he consistency of mousse for sure

Going well with the pecan tart!

The whole experience, however, would fall into the category of be careful what you wish for. The person who insisted it be brought in tried some and then started to feel a little odd similar to how they felt when eating things that they are allergic to. In this case there was a not too common allergy to kiwis.  A bell went off in someone's head and as you can see from the pictures suddenly people decided to google kiwi allergies to see if there was any cross reactivity to passion fruit. Guess what?  That came up as one of the fruits that could also spark a reaction in the context of a kiwi allergy.  Oops!  The desire to try passion fruit mousse ended up with someone getting more than was bargained for. It was a stretch to comment that they could have been killed. But then again if the person had checked prior to making it about the response to the kiwi allergy and planned the whole thing we would maybe have a crime of passion...fruit...on our hands!

Something's not right...let me google this!

Yup, people can react to passion fruit too.  No Mousse de Maracuyá for you!