About Fassionola

Fassionola: The Torrid Story of Cocktails’ Most Mysterious Ingredient

Many things are lost to history — the memories of people, places, things, and their details. This project has been an endeavor to unearth and retell some of those lost tales. But, like many of those stories, it cannot be told in one voice. It is a detective work, a culinary and cultural history, a biographical review, and a cookbook all centered around cocktails’ most mysterious ingredient — Passionola — now known generically as “fassionola.” 

We use the concatenation of P/Fassionola because, as we all do, this passion fruit concoction went through its own growth, blossoming, and evolution. Developed by a German immigrant druggist and his wife in 1916, the brand was coined Passiflora, then Passionola — a passion fruit flavored syrup intended for soda fountains and ice cream sundaes. Fifty years and several scandals later, it was rebranded Fassionola, a commercial cocktail mixer offered in multiple flavors.

Along its journey, it touched the lives of music publishers, actors, dancers, soft-porn directors, suspected mob associates, and barmen keen to keep the legend alive. As it was advertised, P/Fassionola really was the “taste thrill of the Century.”

As we research our book, we will be posting our findings here. So sign up for updates!

Gregorio Pantoja and Martin S. Lindsay