Dougal the neighbour is not impressed with the feijoa

Feijoa are also known as “Pineapple Guava”

The first fruit to drop from our feijoa tree went unnoticed by us, but Tofu the bunny sniffed it out and ate half of it before I caught him. Considering Tofu is blind, that is top marks to the  bunny. Tofu loves feijoa and we have to check the backyard daily to clean up all the fallen feijoa or else he will eat more than is good for him.

For those outside the loop, feijoa (Pronounced fee-JO-ah) are a guava with a perfumey, tart flavour and a grainy texture similar to pear. The originated in South America and I’m not how they found their way to Auckland, New Zealand, but the feijoa season here is short, intense and adored by many. We count our lucky stars that our rental has a thriving feijoa tree in the backyard.

I have fond memories of feijoa season, we would sit around the table, eating feijoa and stacking up the emptied cups as we ate until the towers bent and swayed. In Cantonese, we call them “FEE-jo. To eat a feijoa, you need a small knife and a teaspoon. Simply cut the fruit in half (like you would a kiwi fruit) and scoop the contents out with a spoon. You’ll get to know really quick if you like the firm ones or if you prefer to wait until the fruit softens. Don’t wait too long though, it starts to get a too deep “overdone” taste that reminds me of wine.

Which reminds me, feijoa wine is delicious. As is feijoa vodka. Ex-New Zealand producer 42 Below do a great feijoa vodka that is divine with apple juice. Tastes like a yummy cocktail, but uses only 2 easy ingredients.

Feijoa Curd: Feijoa, butter, sugar, eggs

This season, I wanted to make something with feijoa that I could tip into a jar and enjoy later. I made a feijoa curd using just eggs, butter, sugar and of course feijoa. I loosely follwed this recipe from the Juliana’s Feijoa Feijoa blog. Yes, it’s an entire blog just on feijoa.

Spread feijoa curd on crumpets, scones or toast and enjoy with a hot cup of tea.

Breakfast: Feijoa Curd on a crumpet

If you too have a glut of feijoa, you can view my previous recipes:

Feijoa, Chocolate & Custard Pastries

Feijoa Custard with Chocolate and Cointreau

Feijoa and Onion Chutney Sauce

This post is an entry for Sweet New Zealand, a monthly blogging event open to all Kiwi bloggers. Founded by Alessandra Zecchini, this month’s event is hosted by the Frances over at Bake Club. See here for more info on this month’s event.