In 1946 Mrs. A. Lane, of 33 Rochford Street Erskineville submitted her recipe for Passionfruit Delight to a weekly competition held by the Truth newspaper within its ‘Making Good Wives Better’ section. For her efforts, Mrs. Lane came third, missing out on the £3 first prize to a recipe for Liver and Onion Pudding; and missing out on the £1 second prize to a recipe for Plum Charlotte; coming away with the admiration of the Truth readership and 10 shillings:

Truth (Sydney) Sunday, 24 February 1946

As I have previously shown, despite not being much of a cook (nor a housewife) I hope Mrs. Lane and the Truth readership do not mind if I don the apron on this occasion and make an attempt at Mrs. Lane’s recipe.

Passionfruit Delight

Ingredients:
85g packet of lemon-flavoured jelly
285mL (half a pint) boiling water
1 cup of milk
1 egg yolk
1 egg white
3 passionfruit

Method:
1. Empty contents of jelly packet into a bowl and add 285mL (half a pint) boiling water. Stir to dissolve crystals. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature (do not place in the fridge).

Once jelly has cooled to room temperature:
2. Combine beaten egg yolk and milk. Add to jelly mixture.
3. Beat egg white in a bowl until stiff peaks form (see Beating Egg Whites for more)
4. Gently fold-in stiffly beaten egg white and passionfruit into the jelly mixture so volume is not lost.
5. Refrigerate until set.

It’s pretty good! Worth 10 shillings any day… Nice one Mrs. Lane!

Mrs. Lane’s Passionfruit Delight recipe is one of several published on the day. Other recipes published  include two suggested by the Department of Health Dietitian (tomato puree and stuffed tomatoes); the recipe for Liver and Onion Pudding from Mrs. Tobin of Rose Bay; and the Plum Charlotte recipe from Miss Hunt of Petersham.

It might be hard to fathom a recipe for liver and onion pudding winning over anything these days, but it would seem that Mrs. Lane was not too hard done by. It is pointed out that Mrs. Tobin’s liver and onion pudding required no coupons – a handy advantage in the years immediately after the Second World War.