You can find our feijoa hedge near the Tasting Centre at Green Olive at Red Hill.
Interesting Facts about Feijoa
Feijoa is a fruit that grows on the flowering plant Acca sellowiana. Also known as pineapple guava and guavasteen, this fruit is native to Brazil, Paraguay, Urugauy and Colombia and can be used in smoothies, ciders, chutneys and alcoholic drinks. Feijoa flesh is sweet and its pulp has a flavour similar to pineapple. Feijoa flowers are also edible and have a slight cinnamon spice to them, but the flowers are primarily used for ornamental purposes as they have beautiful white petals with unusual red stamens that attract butterflies and birds for pollination. Feijoas are well suited to the Australian climate as they are warm-temperate plants but require a cold winter to fruit well in late autumn. It’s a little bit difficult to tell when the fruit is ripe as they remain relatively hard, but if they’ve fallen to the ground and we can smell the lovely scents of pineapple and guava, we know they’re ready to eat. They are only ripe for a small window of time and bruise extremely easily, so it’s difficult for them to be exported internationally. Feijoa have very high levels of vitamin C, with one feijoa providing 40% of the recommended daily intake! They are also extremely delicious, so it’s a shame that the only places to find it are at places like Green Olive at Red Hill. We use the flesh of the fruit and the edible flowers in our farm menu seasonally such as in our delicious Fejoa and Apple Crumble.
Feijoa flowers
Photo credit: Garden Betty
The fruit of the feijoa
A feijoa flower
Photo credit: Garden Betty