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.
Bunny Eats Design 
This is really why I love blogging, to be introduced to new and unique ingredients. Thank you for this one Genie, I have never heard or have seen such a fruit. I shall try to find it at our grocery store (they carry many a strange and wonderful things). Stay tuned for tomorrow where I launch a series on my blog which sequays perfectly with your introduction to this unknown fruit to me!
Eva http://kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com
If it helps any, it’s known in some places as a “pineapple guava”.
One of the reasons I love reading other people’s blogs too is exposure to weird and wonderful foods around the world. Weird to me of course, not to them!
I’ve never heard of feijoa (or pineapple guava), but love learning about new things to eat. Hmmm, if it has a name in Cantonese, I wonder if I can score it in Chinatown . . . Maybe my mom knows what it is . . .
You know, if it’s good enough for Tofu, it’s good enough for me!
lol. I don’t know if the world’s Cantonese know about it, it’s just what the Cantonese here in New Zealand call it 🙂
Maybe! At my undergraduate university, there was one dining hall that had a guava juice dispenser (random, right?) right next to all the other fountain sodas (Coke, Sprite, Mountain Dew). It was like crack for my mother.
She still talks about that unlimited guava juice. She rarely ever talks about my fancy degrees. It’s just the juice she remembers!
Your mum is awesome 🙂
I can only aspire to be as funny as she is. Whenever she visits, she leaves me friends hysterical.
lol. Go mum. Great value entertainment 🙂
You will appreciate this: When I graduated, my mom burst into tears halfway through the ceremony. It was so dramatic, people were turning around and staring. Through her sobs, she explained that the reason why she was crying was that she couldn’t understand how she and my dad could send me to such an expensive private university and I managed to graduate without a husband.
“There’s a BUSINESS SCHOOL!!!” is one particular wail that sticks in my head!
Oh wow! How could you really graduate without a husband. What were doing all those years? Studying?!
I know! Clearly I was wasting my time 😉
Super impressed about that dedicated blog! I didn’t know 42 below was kiwi! Kudos to you guys 😛 I have never had a feijoa but they look yummy 🙂 I’m sure Flatpac would have a go!
I’m sure she would too.The feijoa blog is written by one of you kin (an Aussie). I think you should try a feijoa. It’s not as exotic as it looks 🙂
I wonder where they are getting them from? I like guava. I always eat it when I go to Thailand so I assume that I would like feijoa.