[Stu]

OK folks, if anyone here is hoping to become a Kiwi soon, here is a quick question, just to check out your knowledge of Kiwiana.
What are these?
http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/058758.jpg
For those Kiwis among you that cannot be here right now, well, jealous? :-) I LOVE this time of year! MMmmmmmm!
Cheers, Stu.

[foolsgold99]

someone at work had some of these today, but i didn't ask what they were

[Moorf]

That'll be a feijoa :nice1 got a tree in our garden but took me weeks before I could figure out what it was - took a brave Veronica to pick and bite into one to find out :laugh :laugh

They seem to have the same divided opinion as to their "niceness" as Marmite :P we love 'em.

[debnjohn]

Hmm, pretty sure I know the answer to this one.

I think it' s a dessert spoon in the 'Hampton Court' style by Oneida (Ireland), probably Community silver plated.

John. :oops:

[Moorf]

:laugh :laugh :laugh

[acisman]

Hi Stu

OK we now know what they are,but what do you do with them ??? The photo suggests you just cut them in half and spoon out the flesh. That seems too easy, so please explain the joys of this strange fruit. Do you eat them raw or do you have to cook them.

You will recall that many months ago I wrote about emmigrating to NZ and Matamata. Well we have arrived and after much searching in both Matamata and Cambridge, have finally started the house purchase ritual in Morrinsville.

Cheers


Pam & Dave

[kiwidebs]

OK we now know what they are,but what do you do with them ??? The photo suggests you just cut them in half and spoon out the flesh.

That's exactly what you do! And they are delish - but an unusual texture which puts alot of people off them.

Debs

[Carol]

I had 4 of them today!

And am currently hinking about another two....


Yes you eat them exactly like that.
I prefer mine a tad riper than those ones...

[Diny]

My mother in law makes jam out of them. Actually, it's one of the very few palatable things that comes out of her kitchen :eek

They make the top of my mouth go dry, but I quite like them.

Diny

[lindajax]

hi all,
chatting about said feijoas over dinner and apparently you can dry them so that they're crunchy - sort of not feeling that one me
they're good for icecream.
you can get wine made from them and liquers ( I had a Backyard Nut coctail - vodka, feijoa liquer and pinnapple - fabulous!)
I have been taking bag upon bag into work as my tree is in full fruit.
Linda x

[Hannah-NL]

http://recipes.epicurean.com/asc_results.jsp?ingredients=Feijoa

http://www.foodreference.com/html/feijoa-chicken.html

[Stu]

Well, well done all on ID this kiwi icon.
Oh the feijoa, a wondrous fruit. Eat 'em like I do in the pic (yes, you are right about the silverware too), or they make very nice crumbles if added to apple, and indeed dehydrated feijoa is also very nice. If you have a small dehydrator, try whizzing a bunch of them thru the blender, adding a little lemon juice, and drying this mix in sheets....yummy! The dried feijoa slices are also very nice indeed.
The skin or rind of feijoas is as sour as a tax bill, ie, effing sour and mouth puckering, you only eat the insides.
And no you GOTTA eat 'em no riper than these pictured, otherwise they are all soft and yuk.
Feijoas, for the uninitiated, have a sweet but almost smokey flavour to them. Feijoa trees are precocious producers, you need both a male and female tree, but funnily, both produce fruit (so I guess it is just the need for cross polinisation I suppose). Each year one will have more fruit than the other, and they seem to change every other year which is which. Wierd trees. They are very easy to prune though, you can chop em back very heavily, they just shoot away like crazy again, and a coupla years later, they are back to their full prodn.

And it is just not done to only eat three or four. Hell, you must be nuts. The proper way of eating feijoas is by the bucket full. Basically as many as you can until you have a bucket full of the empty halves. Minimum of 15, or you aint no true kiwi kid. And ALWAYS eat the big ones first! Especially if anyone else is likely to get to them first or while you are eating your way thru the pile.

Good ol' feijoas, gotta love 'em! ;) :nice1 :clap :P
cheers, Stu.

[Stu]

Oh! And that teaspoon? PERFECT for feijoas, as it is slim enough to make a perfect scoop, sharp enough that it cuts it out clean, without ever going too close to the rind. I urge all feijoaphiles to get themselves some of those spoons for their feijoery!
Cheers again, Stu.