Feijoas inspire love hate relationship
Autumn is the time for feijoas, which are one of my favourite fruits. They have a fruity, almost perfumed flavour which varies slightly from variety to variety – the common name for feijoas in the United States is pineapple guava, which is about as good a description of the flavour as you will get. They seem to be a polarising fruit – you definitely either like them or you don’t. Feijoas belong to the same family, the Myrtaceae, as the native manuka and pohutukawa and the true guava.
The feijoa (Acca sellowiana) is a small evergreen tree of up to about 4 metres in height and breadth (they can be kept to half these proportions with trimming). Unpruned they make a fantastic large shelter hedge. The first time I saw them treated this way was a very large hedge sheltering a large plant nursery on Drury Hill, Wanganui.
Feijoa leaves are a glossy green above with silver-grey undersides. The flowers with their conspicuous bright red protruding stamens are very remeniscent of those of pohutukawa and rata. The fruits are green and in the wild grow to about 2.5 to 7.5cm in length and weigh between 25 and 60 grams. Fruits on modern cultivars are much larger and can sometimes weigh up to half a kilo.
Native to South America, feijoas grow in the east Andean cooler sub-tropical highlands of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. It was introduced to Europe by Edouard Andre in 1890 and about 1900 to California. Not well-known or widespread before the 1950s feijoas are deservedly much more popular with the gardening public now.
They are very tough plants and will stand a wide range of soils and windy conditions. They are quite frost tolerant although in some areas the crop of of latefruiting varieties can get damaged (the fruiting season can be up to about four weeks depending on variety).
Feijoas do best in an open sunny site as shade makes the plants leggy. It pays to grow several varieties for cross pollination to occur as some varieties are not very self-fertile i.e. they need pollen from another plant to set fruit. Feijoas should be planted in the autumn and winter and staked if necessary. Shortening the main stem will encourage good bushy growth and a well-shaped tree. Although not entirely necessary on good soils, a light dressing of blood and bone or artificial fertiliser applied twice during the growing season will keep the plants vigorous and in food health, helping to ensure heavier fruiting. One of the feijoas best features, unlike some fruit trees, is that they suffer very few pests and diseases.
Horticulturalists here and in the States have produced a wide variety of new cultivars with thinner smooth skinned , larger than normal fruits. These vary in flavour and also fruiting times. Early fruiting varieties are ‘‘Unique’’, ‘‘Gemini’’ and ‘‘Pounamu’’. Mid-season varieties ‘‘Apollo’’, ‘‘Kakapo’’and ‘‘Mammoth’’- later season types ‘‘Opal Star’’, ‘‘Triumph’’ and ‘‘Wiki Tu’’.
A versatile and long-keeping fruit, feijoas can be eaten raw or lightly stewed, or they can be combined with other fruits in desserts and cakes. They are ideal for freezing or bottling and also make delicious jams, relishes and chutneys .