Oranges and apples are among the fruit that is hung at the lowest level during the Australian winter months of autumn and winter. However, this time of year is also the sweet and short season for an obscure crop called the Feijoa. The fruit, which is native to South America, has a green skin that is oval. It also has the sweet, tangy flesh that is adored by those who are knowledgeable, even New Zealanders. Feijoa season is a hugely anticipated event all across Tasman.
Feijoa (pronounced fay-huh) thrives throughout Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales as well as New South Wales, and the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. There are about two weeks to go in this year’s growing season, with the expected supply to be primarily coming from Western Australia.
In recent times, Feijoa has enjoyed a sort of cult following among Australian consumers. This could be due in part to the method used to harvest it, says Pauline Haydock, team leader in Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery close to Kyogle, Northern New South Wales. “Feijoa is a fruit that falls from the tree when it’s ready. Farmers don’t pick it up,” she says. To capture the fruit and keep it from breaking when it lands on the ground, growers put tarps underneath the tree or wrap the tree with a net. From then on, the fruit is usually at its peak over three or five days.
This relatively short shelf life is not conducive to mass consumer markets compared to crops like bananas, which are plucked early and ripened en route to the supermarket, or apples, which stay good in cold storage for over a month. This is why Feijoa has a blink-and-you-miss-it quality in local markets and specialty grocers: it is challenging to stock it without compromising on quality.
Like many popular and popular products, it is polarizing. Mark Shenken, the Melbourne-based co-founder of the Feijoa appreciation Facebook Group Facebook, says feijoas are “fruits of the gods.” Cut it open, scoop out the flesh like you would a kiwifruit and then enjoy the fruity, guava-like taste and strawberry-banana smell. However, it has a “gritty” texture, says Shenken, that could make some people uncomfortable.
Chef Analiese Gregory agrees. “My sister used to eat it a lot when we were growing up in New Zealand, but I only developed an appreciation for it later in life,” she states. Today, based within Tasmania, Gregory prefers to gently cook this fruit with a mild syrup with ginger ma,ke cakes from it, or stew it with apples to make pie.
The grittiness of the food is the most aversion for those who dislike it. Does cooking feijoa affect the texture? “No,” Gregory says, laughing. “The grainy texture stays the same.”
In the theory of things, Feijoa can be ideal as a backyard tree, similar to other fruit that is popular with the locals, like chacha and mulberries – where owners collect the fallen feijoas to offer the fruits to neighbors. Sharing harvests with friends is a common practice across New Zealand but not yet in Australia.
However, Shenken is working to alter this. “When I relocated to New Zealand to Australia, I saw feijoas in the neighborhood, but most people didn’t know what they were. They were afraid to take it in,” he says.
This could be the reason you may find bruised or rotting feijoas along the nature strips and footpaths at this time of year.
If Australians ignore the feijoa fruits, then why did they decide to have plants in the first place? One reason is that they are decorative trees which thrive in a variety of conditions.”It can be described as an evergreen species. It can thrive in mild to subtropical climates and can withstand temperatures of up to -10C.” Haydock says. Haydock. “It makes a great hedge and can be pruned to keep the trees under three meters.”
Haydock says the nursery she runs has sold between 10 and 20 percent more feijoas in recent years. “We have commercial growers from Stanthorpe in southern Queensland approaching us now, which is where they typically grow stone fruits and apples.”
The most interesting indicator of the increasing popularity of Feijoa across Australia is their position on the aisle of nursery plants of Bunnings, in which you can purchase trees for $12.98.
