Feijoa recipes and preservation

Deb May 3, 2022

It’s that time of year again – more feijoas than we can eat all in one go! But no need to waste anything. I’ve posted some of these before, but here are all my ideas in one place.

Eat them fresh or put them in a smoothie

Cut in half and scoop out the flesh. Save the skins for feijoa fizz.

The smoothie pictured has:

  • A cup of caspian sea yoghurt
  • One pear, chopped
  • Two feijoas
  • ½ avocado
  • Some carob
  • Water to dilute as needed

See my Feijoa and Pear smoothie recipe for other variations, including dairy free, and other ways you can beef it up a bit for extra nutrients.

Cook with them

Add them to stewed apples, use them in crumble, or replace apple in muffins. Again, save the skins.

I’ve made gluten free, GAPS friendly spicy muffins with them, but they will probably work in many baking recipes that use fruit.

This sounds like a nice keto loaf recipe https://theketochefskitchen.com/keto-feijoa-loaf/

Feijoa Fizz

This recipe is from Green Goddess https://greengoddess.co.nz/how-to-make-feijoa-fizz/

Just three ingredients – feijoa skins, water, sugar – and a little warmth and time, and you have a refreshing fizzy drink. Note that I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ve started saving the skins.

Update: I’ve tried 2 batches. The first batch was exactly according to the recipe, but since we don’t have a hot water cupboard, it took a while to ferment. The second time, I added some water kefir grains and it fermented and fizzed up more quickly.

Freeze them

You can stew them up with some apple or pear and freeze the stewed fruit.

But if time is limited, I just throw them in the freezer whole. For best results, make sure they have no brown marks. Don’t expect them to be good for eating fresh when they defrost as the texture will have changed, but they are good for smoothies, stewing or baking.

Put the frozen feijoa in some hot water for a minute or two. Just long enough to defrost the green skin, but leave the rest frozen. The skin comes off easily with a potato peeler. The frozen flesh can be chopped and thrown in a smoothie still frozen. Or let it defrost a bit and use in muffins, crumbles or for stewing.

Original post on freezing feijoas and bananas for smoothies here.

Dehydrate them

You can scoop out the flesh and then slice into 5mm pieces, or slice the entire fruit into 5mm pieces, or what I like best is to peel them and slice into 5mm slices.

Dry on medium setting or at 55C for 10-14 hours, till leathery.

I’m still experimenting to see how long they keep for, but they keep getting eaten!

Update: I made two batches about 3 weeks ago. The first batch is looking good and I think will keep for a while. But the second batch can’t have been dried anough and is going mouldy.
TIP – if in doubt about whether it’s dry enough – do more!

Other resources

The NZ Herald has an article on 10 things to do with feijoas :

  1. stew
  2. freeze
  3. dehydrate
  4. bake
  5. bottle
  6. make salsa
  7. drink (feijoa dacquiri)
  8. preserve
  9. brew
  10. and make curry.

Another selection of recipes and uses, including:

  • a very good picture showing when a feijoa is perfectly ripe
  • salsa
  • smoothies
  • caramelised with blue cheese
  • poached with wine and spices
  • mixed with yoghurt, especially good for kids
  • links to recipes for baking, desserts and a fruit paste

Compost

Anything that can’t be used can go into your compost heap, bokashi bin or worm farm. I have to admit that for a long time my focus has been much more on cooking, fermenting and preparing foods, and not on food gardening and composting. But times are changing, and we need to change with them.

So expect two new post categories – gardening and prepping.