Following Our Passion for Pineapple Guava

Between daylight savings and the atmospheric rivers, late fall in the PNW has been a wet and gloomy affair. Luckily for us, it coincides perfectly with the ripening time of one of our absolute favorite fruiting plants: pineapple guava! Commonly known as feijoas, these shockingly flavorful fruits are guaranteed to cure the autumnal blues. Thanks to a hot tip from a loyal customer who has also caught pineapple guava fever, we had the opportunity to visit a U-Pick pineapple guava farm just outside of Portland. We were not aware of anyone growing them at this scale so it was a very exciting and dare we say, fruitful adventure. We were also lucky enough to acquire some recipes, which are featured below. 

Pineapple Guava (Acca sellowiana), also called Feijoa, is native to southern Brazil, northern Argentina, western Paraguay and Uruguay, and was introduced in the US in the early 1900’s. It remains largely unknown here, due to its shorter shelf life, but this unique fruit is incredibly delicious and grows abundantly in many locations.
Vial Family Farms in Hillsboro, OR, just outside of Portland, is a family-run U-Pick farm that offers grape and pineapple guava picking in the fall. A huge hedge of about 115 pineapple guavas runs alongside the grape vines at their farm, and we filled our buckets with fruit! These trees have been growing for around 19 years and are highly productive. When ripe, usually sometime in November, the fruit will fall off the tree and can be picked up off the ground if not bruised. Fruits can be stored in a cool place and will keep for a few weeks. 

We were lucky enough to meet someone else reveling in this sea of aroma and flavor who shared with us their family’s recipes for baking with feijoas. There’s nothing like fresh pineapple guavas to bake some tasty treats with!

Aside from their incredibly unique and tasty fruits, pineapple guavas are a beautiful evergreen shrub for the home garden. Functioning very well as a hedge or barrier, they require little summer water once established and won’t get much higher than 10-12 feet. The flowers are also stunningly beautiful and edible as well! Check out some of our new and restocked varieties below. A huge thanks to both the Vial Family as well as the kind people who shared these recipes!

For more information on care and maintenance, read our Pineapple Guava Growing Guide HERE.

Pineapple Guava & Coconut Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cups white sugar
• Juice & zest of one lemon
• ¾ cup soy bean oil or other mild flavored oil
• 2 large eggs
• Pinch salt
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• ¾ cup shredded coconut
• 1 ½ cup self-raising flour (or plain flour with 3 tsp baking powder)
• 5-8 fresh feijoas, peeled and sliced to cover the cake batter

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 320° F. Grease and line a cake tin with parchment paper.
2. Mix sugar and zest together in a mixer. Add oil, eggs, salt and lemon juice and beat until thick and pale.
3. Add yogurt, fold through with a spoon until well mixed.
4. Add coconut, fold through with a spoon until well mixed
5. Add flour and fold through with a spoon until just mixed.
6. Pour into a cake tin and top with half the sliced feijoas. Bake for 20 mins until slightly firm on top.
7. Remove from the oven and place the rest of the feijoas on top. Sprinkle with shredded coconut, then return to the oven and continue to bake for another 40 mins until firm to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Serve with cream or ice cream.

Easy Feijoa Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 ½ cup ripe feijoas (scoop out soft flesh, cut into pieces and overfill a cup)
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup sugar (or more to taste)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups flour
• Milk to mix
• Topping: Juice of 3 limes, 3 Tbsp sugar. Mix juice and sugar and spoon onto muffins when cooked.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 390° F and grease a muffin pan with butter.
2. Melt butter in a bowl. Add feijoas and stir.
3. Add eggs and stir to combine.
4. Fold in dry ingredients. Add milk to achieve a soft consistency but do not overmix. Just mix until dry ingredients are blended in.
5. Spoon into greased muffin tin and bake for 10-15 mins until firm in center. Drizzle topping over when hot. Leave 10 mins before removing from the pan.