I have propagated and grown selected large mild Feijoa over many years. I call them Pineapple Guavas, the flavour is not too strong or too weak, but just ‘Goldilocks’ right. The related posts list some recipes that can use the abundant fruit.
I remember our first crop of about 12 fruit was so exciting and each of the large ones was accounted for and shared equally between family members and each was scraped out as close as possible to the skin which is somewhat sour. I knew that Ted the Nurseryman had put me on a winner. We concluded that they were possibly the most refreshing and palate-cleansing fruit that we had ever eaten. At the same time, as the principal gardener, I had a bonus extra privilege, as I found that the small fruit could be eaten whole while I was in the garden and there was no competition for these.
The feijoa skin by itself is a bit too astringent to be enjoyable, but when eaten with the flesh it assumes a nice cinnamon taste and can become an acquired taste. I am happy to report with no apparent ill effects (apart from a little madness). Also, I am relieved that others who are far more expert than myself also report on the virtues of skin on eating of ‘pedigree’ feijoas such as E6, Unique and Large Oval. So my mongrel feijoa breed line may be one of these or it is deserving of its own pedigree.
“I would also add that this applies to my mongrel feijoas that are grown from home-collected third-generation seeds and can now produce fruits as big as 200g each!”
Antibacterial and antifungal properties of the fruit have also bee reported, so this might be a good reason to eat some of them whole, as often most of the goodies of fruit are in the skin. You have permission to screw your face up a little, say only 1.5 on the rhubarb without sugar that peaks out at 10 as in this little cartoon.
As a side issue, the feijoa is an evergreen from South America and is a member of the Mertyl family to which our Australian Eucalyptus belongs. This dates back to times when the two continent were one when we share Marsupials.
If you look at the pretty pink flowers petals and the stamen and fruit clasp of a feijoa they are very similar to our Eucalyptus flowers. I can even detect a hint of Eucalyptus fragrance when I smell the skin of the fruit or eat them whole. “Now I hope I am not sounding like one of those wine snobs.”
While talking about the petals, they are delightfully fragrant to eat and I know of no better petal for eating. The local Currawongs have learned this too and delicately pluck the petals without any apparent harm to the pollination of the fruit.
Tim
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