I have heaps of feijoas
My trees are currently laden with this fresh and tangy fruit. I’ve found baking them, skins on, makes a delicious dessert while a quick blitz turns them into a super green smoothie.
With our feijoas now falling in earnest (we have 35 feijoa trees), we have developed a new morning routine.
After the last cups of tea have been drunk and bench cleared, we don our gumboots, grab the large green bucket that now lives at our back door and head outside to do the ‘‘feijoa hunt’’.
Our boys love it! Often they’ll grab the old rusty trike, and one will push while the other collects the fruit, storing it safely in the tray at the back. Thus far we have managed to give away the fruit, and soon we’ll be getting into making batches of my feijoa and apricot chutney.
In the meantime, the recipes below are some of the ways we have been enjoying the fruit at home. I thought I’d trial baking feijoas with their skins on and it works really well – they retain their shape and have a delicious floral flavour.
The smoothies can also be made FOOD with less water and eaten as a dessert.
Feijoa, avocado & lime smoothies
Serves 4 Preparation: 5 minutes Cooking: Nil
2 avocados 750g feijoas Juice of 3 limes A generous handful of mint 5 Medjool dates (substitute with honey to taste)
Put all the ingredients in a blender (or use a stick blender), add 2 cups of water, and blend until smooth. Add more water if necessary to reach desired consistency.
If using honey, add to taste (this will differ depending on how ripe the feijoas are). Garnish with mint sprigs and serve.
Baked feijoas with cashew, coconut crumbs
Serves 4-6 Preparation: 10 minutes Cooking: 1 hour & 10 minutes
8 large feijoas, halved (leave the skins on) 8 dried apricots, halved 4 medjool dates, pitted, quartered (substitute with 8 regular dates) Juice of 2 oranges 1 cinnamon stick, broken in two 6 cardamom pods, bruised cup oats cup coconut cup sunflower seeds cup cashew nuts 5 medjool dates (substitute with honey to taste) 50g butter
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Put the feijoas, apricots, medjool dates, orange juice, cinnamon stick, and cardamom pods into a heavy-bottomed ovenproof pot with a lid.
Pour over 1 cup of water and bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for a further 30 minutes. While the feijoas are cooking put the oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, cashew nuts, dates and butter into a food processor, season with sea salt, and process until it comes together. If using honey, add to taste.
Pour the mixture out into a large baking tray and bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown and crunchy. Keep a good eye on it as it will burn quickly.
Serve the feijoas with a dollop of yoghurt and a sprinkle of the cashew-coconut crumbs. The recipe makes a reasonable amount of crumbs and any extras can be sprinkled on porridge or yoghurt, or even on top of smoothies.
Recipes, food styling and photography by Emma Boyd