Feast out on fabulous feijoas

THE FIRST FEIJOAS HAVE LANDED

Straight onto the trampoline at our place. I ate so many of these perfumed suckers as a kid that apart from Lothlorien Winery’s delicious organic sparkling feijoa wines I feel I’ve almost done my dash with them for life. However, a line of neglected feijoa trees provides the only shade and privacy on our section until new trees take off, so I’m grateful for their evergreen presence and use as a lunchbox filler.

Feijoas are so ubiquitous in our gardens, it’s crazy to think that you’d ever need to buy them ($11 per kilo right now) at the supermarket. ‘‘But we’ve already got so many of them at home,’’ I remember my standard-three teacher sighing when I brought her in a loaded bag of them.

If you want to join this great Kiwi garden tradition, feijoa trees are available in garden centres from now until winter. Take your pick from early, mid-season and late varieties as well as dwarf and self-fertile types. Check out www.edible.co.nz and www.waimeanurseries.co.nz for the varieties currently available

In an attempt to rekindle my childhood love affair with feijoas, I’ve gone through the Get Growing archives and searched out the best feijoa recipes. Do you have a to-diefor feijoa recipe that will turn my head? I’d love to try it (I think!). Email inbox@getgrowing.co.nz

Feijoa recipes fromthe get growing archives –

FEIJOA PUDDING

Feijoas are used by some to tenderise steak. They make a real difference if you peel and cut up 1-2 to a raw fruit salad too, but this baked feijoa pudding is one of our favourite recipes: Grease an ovenproof dish. Scoop out enough feijoa halves to cover the base of the dish and sprinkle with the juice of 1 lemon. In a small bowl

sift 11⁄ cups self-raising flour, add a pinch of salt, cup sugar, cup milk, 2 tablespoons of melted butter and the grated rind of 1 lemon to make a very soft dough. Spoon dough over feijoas. Then mix

cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons cornflour and 11⁄ teaspoons of cinnamon.

Sieve over the dough and pour 1/3 cup boiling water over the top. Do not stir, even though it looks strange!

Bake at 180˚C for 40-50 minutes and serve hot with cream.

– Ann Kidd A TASTY TIPPLE

I made some excellent feijoa liqueur using the damson gin concept that I first saw in NZ Gardener. I basically peeled and halved a bunch of small, ripe feijoas, stuffed them into a wide mouthed bottle, then filled the bottle with caster sugar (whatever would fit down the gaps between the fruit, but the bottle was pretty tightly packed with feijoas) and topped it up with good quality vodka. I sealed the bottle and turned it whenever I remembered (quite a bit at the beginning and not much later on!). After a few months I tasted it – and it was great. Three years later it is fantastic and I only wish I made more of the experimental batch! I’ve made a little more each year but the older it gets, the better it seems! It’s a lovely gold colour and a great hit for visitors.

– Sarah Burling FEIJOA & CARAMEL CHEESECAKE

Sally Cameron’s tangy, creamy cheesecake from NZ Gardener’s recipe archive is a delightful way to use up ripe, small and juicy feijoas – and thanks to the drought we’re all going to have plenty of those this season! Avoid gritty, dry fruit. Lemon juice is a feijoa’s best friend: it helps stop the flesh turning brown so quickly.‘‘

Ingredients for base • 250g packet of digestive biscuits • 100g butter, melted • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger Ingredients for filling • 12-15 feijoas (800g) • 1/3 cup caster sugar • 500g cream cheese, softened • 250g sour cream • 1 tablespoon gelatin dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water • 2 tablespoons icing sugar, sifted • 375g can of caramel sweetened condensed milk Ingredients for topping • 4 feijoas, peeled and sliced into rounds • juice of 1/2 a lemon

To make the base, grease a 20cm loose-bottomed springform tin or pie dish and line sides with baking paper. Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, or in a food processor. Add melted butter and ginger, and combine. Turn mixture into baking dish and line the bottom and sides, pressing down with the back of a wooden spoon. Chill in the fridge while preparing the filling.

To make the filling, cook peeled and sliced feijoas with sugar and 1/3 cup of water for 3-5 minutes, until tender. Drain and reserve liquid. Let the fruit cool.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and sour cream together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add dissolved gelatine and icing sugar. Fold in condensed

GET GROWING

This column is adapted from the weekly e-zine, get growing, from New Zealand Gardener magazine. For gardening advice delivered to your inbox every Friday, sign up for Get Growing at: getgrowing.co.nz milk, then add the cooled fruit. Mix until just combined and pour on to the chilled base. Place in the fridge for at least an hour.

To make the topping, dip feijoa slices into lemon juice as you cut them up. In a small saucepan, heat the reserved liquid from the cooked feijoas. Dip feijoa slices into this hot sugar liquid, then cook quickly, for 20-30 seconds. Remove and drain on baking paper. Continue to cook the sugar liquid down until reduced by half. Arrange fruit slices on top and drizzle sugar syrup over each wedge to serve.