Feijoa is a tropical plant native to Brazil, with a pineapple-like fruit that has sweet notes of strawberry and guava. It is often used for hedges and screens and grows up to 15 feet. The fruit is not commonly found in American grocery stores, but can be used to flavor fruit salads, cooked into puddings, or preserved in syrup. Feijoa flowers are also edible and spicy. The fruit doesn’t keep well in the refrigerator and should be harvested when soft enough.
Feijoa, or pineapple guava, is a tropical plant native to Brazil. It prefers subtropical areas and will suffer from frost damage. Feijoa is often used to create hedges and screens because it is attractive and fast growing. The fruit is considered subacid, with a pineapple-like flavor that has sweeter notes of strawberry and guava. Feijoa is not commonly found in American grocery stores, although large grocery stores with large selections of exotic fruits may have feijoa in season, which varies by location.
The feijoa bush grows to about 15 feet (five meters) and has pale gray bark with greenish-gray oblong leaves. The flowers are very showy, in brown and white, and make a striking, sweetly scented addition to the landscape. Planted close together and trained, feijoa bushes make an excellent privacy screen or windbreak in temperate zones. Feijoa prefers partial sun, with protection from extreme heat.
The feijoa fruit starts out as a green ovoid shape covered in small white hairs. As the fruit ripens, it remains greenish or yellow with a slight red tinge, and the hairs fall out. When opened, the feijoa reveals granular white pulp and seeds encased in pulp. The feijoa fruit also has a strong scent, which begins to emit before it is fully ripe.
There are a number of feijoa cultivars, some of which are grown to produce fruit, while others are designed for landscape use. The plant is grown throughout Latin America, as well as Australia and parts of the United States. In more northern areas of the United States, it is commonly used for landscaping, because the plant itself is frost hardy, but the fruit is not.
Feijoa flowers are also edible, albeit spicy, and are great eaten plain, sprinkled on salads, or used as a side dish. The fruit itself must be peeled before consumption and sprinkled with lemon juice to prevent browning. Feijoa is often used to flavor fruit salads, cooked into puddings, preserved in syrup, or fermented in alcohol. Feijoa is also used to make chutneys and condiments, and a syrup extract is commonly used in Latin America to flavor drinks.
Feijoa doesn’t keep well in the refrigerator, it lasts about a week before the quality of the fruit starts to suffer. When foraging for the fruit, look for uniformly colored, unfermented specimens, which should carry the distinctive sweet scent. If harvested too early, feijoa will not ripen well off the tree, so look for a fruit that is soft enough. If exposed to too much heat and humidity, the fruit will rot under the skin, so be sure to inquire about handling practices at your grocery store.
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