harveyc

Feijoa was brought up in another discussion thread that was taking it off-topic, so I decided to start another thread instead of ask questions and make comments in a thread that was intended for another fruit.

In that thread, Richard posted the following:

So I ask: Richard, why do you say feijoa are "healthier" than pomegranates and blueberries? There are so many methods to measure the health benefits of fruits that it seems impossible to rate one as healthier than another. Even though pomegranates are touted as being very healthy (especially by the giant grower Paramount Farms), I've decided I won't try marketing it based on health benefits once my small planting comes into production. Instead, I'll just market based on taste, etc.

I'm familiar with some growers in the 1980s who started putting in commercial plantings of feijoa but it really seemed that market acceptance was not that great, for whatever reason. Freida's Finest is the distributor primarily responsible for the kiwifruit becoming popular in the U.S. and many of the growers who tried feijoa had also been growing kiwi for some time. I was financing many of their operations.

Freida does market feijoa (see Frieda's Inc. - The Specialty Produce Company) but it just has never taken off.

I like feijoa a lot myself and it's one of my son's favorite fruits. I have four plants now and am working on acquiring a couple of more cultivars so I'd like to see this fruit discussed much more.

Thanks,

Harvey

__________________

Caloosamusa

Good points Harveyc!

In the US fruits tend to be marketed fresh. The Pineaplle Gauva, as we call it in Florida, does not compete well as a fresh fruit. In other countries where they grow it, it is processed into a candy, with no sugar added! Very healthy! When I can find this nutritious treat, I will pay well for it. One has to understand consumer tastes, the fruit, and the market, to successfully introduce new cultivars in the US market.

harveyc

I really believe that feijoa can compete as a fresh fruit with just about anything. I think that much of it's lack of consumer demand is because people have not tried it. Perhaps fruit sold in markets aren't ripe enough either. I enjoy many fruits and would rank feijoa as a favorite of which I have many. I grow many of my own fresh fruits such as peaches, nectarines, cherries, pluots, apricots, navel oranges, pomegranates, figs, melons of many types, feijoa, some bananas and will soon be also producing mandarins and loquat. I can't imagine why someone would not be willing to buy each of these. I also have a mango, lychee, longan, pitanga, and jaboticaba but don't know yet if I'll ever harvest fruit from these. Speaking of mango, I know it is a widely popular fruit but I don't believe feijoa has obstacles in the market any larger than mangoes. The fruit will also have lots of fiber and having to cut around the large seed can be quite a messy hassle. I eat feijoa with a grapefruit spoon.

Here's a little example of how to turn someone into a feijoa fan. My sister has a large shrub which produces large quantities of feijoa. We went to her house for Thanksgiving last year and my son checked out the crop and picked a bunch and asked my sister for a spoon. My brother's youngest son likes to play with my son so he took interest in what he was up to and got a spoon himself. Within a half hour, the had each eaten 15-20 fruits! My nephew had never had one before but obviously thought they were great. I believe many people would eat them if they were promoted.

__________________

Richard

So do I -- when it is grown to its potential. As I mentioned before, when boxes of 3" fruits are placed in a produce market, they sell very fast.

Harvey, I also agree with you that they can sell on taste alone. Further, it is a very versatile fruit. It is awesome fresh, in salad, roasted, etc.

I brought up the health benefits more of an aside -- another irony of the lack of acceptance by supermarket chains. There are a number of nutrition studies out there on the fruit. The two I've read is a few decades-old one from the USDA and a recent study by a branch of the UN that encompasses many lesser-utilized fruits world-wide. In terms of content, solubility, uptake by the human system, and fiber the fruit is a super-food. However, the local branch of the California Dept. of Food and Agriculture long-ago grew tired of trying to get the packing houses to try it.

P.S. It is no longer Feijoa, but Acca.

__________________
Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

Chironex

I have never tried one. And I don't have a tapir or a guanta, I guess I am just a midwestern farm boy.

__________________
Scot

Patty in Wisc

I am a midwestern girl & I had the priveledge of tasting pineapple guava fresh off a tree in Virginia Beach - actually just fallen off the bush. They are WONDERFUL. I have 4 diff guava's growing now incl. pineapple. They should bloom this year.
Harvey, I read the thread where we started talking about guava & you said you would start this new thread called "feijoa". I never heard of "feijoa" so could you maybe put (guava) next to it so we all know what it is? Some interested ppl might pass this up. Thanks

__________________
Got a lite?
Patty




____
Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

harveyc

Heck, when and why did they change the name to Acca? I never liked using the name pineapple guava and they are still usually sold as Feijoa. A friend who operates a nursery recently imported some Feijoa (Acca) from New Zeland, though they weren't in great shape and I don't know if they've survived. With a name like Acca I think it would be even harder to sell so I guess I will have to decide if I'm going to be stubborn and stay with the old name or go to pineapple guava.

One other item worthy of note is that "the plant in question" produces flowers with the best-tasting petals I've ever tried! I'm not one to go around and try eating flowers but I remember reading about 20-30 years ago in the Sunset Western Garden Book about the nice taste of these flowers so I've always snacked on a few when there in bloom.

__________________

Richard

__________________
Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

lorax

See, and here we very rarely see the Acca in the farmer's markets (and we call it Guayaba blanca, literally White Guava) - it's usually in sticks of gooey-chewy candy that are sold on the interprovincial busses. If I want a fresh one, I have to raid my neighbor's trees (which he usually doesn't mind - I trade him standard Guayabas or Bananas for them.)

luisport

I have two feijoa plants... i just love them!

__________________
Musa Rajapuri, D. Brazilian, D. Orinoco, Pisang Ceylon, Da Jiao (Himalayan Fruit), x Fruit, Himalayan Mountain, Helen's Hybrid, Patupi, Lacatan, Hajaray

Paw Paw Sunflower, Prima 1216, Potomac, KSU Atwood, Jerry's Big Girl, Al Horns, KSU Chapell

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-small-...-orchard/19936

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-pear-collection/55683

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-apple-collection/53104

luisport

This is the best feijoa site i know: FEIJOA FEIJOA | fabulous recipes for feijoa lovers

__________________
Musa Rajapuri, D. Brazilian, D. Orinoco, Pisang Ceylon, Da Jiao (Himalayan Fruit), x Fruit, Himalayan Mountain, Helen's Hybrid, Patupi, Lacatan, Hajaray

Paw Paw Sunflower, Prima 1216, Potomac, KSU Atwood, Jerry's Big Girl, Al Horns, KSU Chapell

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-small-...-orchard/19936

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-pear-collection/55683

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-apple-collection/53104

Richard

What cultivars do you have?

__________________
Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

harveyc

I have 12 now, 11 named and 1 un-named selection. I'm hoping to finally get Lickver's Pride this winter, though I don't know if it will perform as well in NorCal as down south.

__________________

harveyc

BTW, the CRFG president from Santa Monica has maybe 30 varieties.

__________________

luisport

Hi! I don't know the cultivar names... this is selled without var. name.

__________________
Musa Rajapuri, D. Brazilian, D. Orinoco, Pisang Ceylon, Da Jiao (Himalayan Fruit), x Fruit, Himalayan Mountain, Helen's Hybrid, Patupi, Lacatan, Hajaray

Paw Paw Sunflower, Prima 1216, Potomac, KSU Atwood, Jerry's Big Girl, Al Horns, KSU Chapell

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-small-...-orchard/19936

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-pear-collection/55683

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-apple-collection/53104

luisport

feijoa and a fruit

__________________
Musa Rajapuri, D. Brazilian, D. Orinoco, Pisang Ceylon, Da Jiao (Himalayan Fruit), x Fruit, Himalayan Mountain, Helen's Hybrid, Patupi, Lacatan, Hajaray

Paw Paw Sunflower, Prima 1216, Potomac, KSU Atwood, Jerry's Big Girl, Al Horns, KSU Chapell

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-small-...-orchard/19936

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-pear-collection/55683

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-apple-collection/53104

Richard

Interesting question. As a species, it is hardy to 5F. From my childhood, I recall Coolidge standing in a foot or more of snow for a couple of days. They seemed happy for the bath.

__________________
Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

lpatelski

I bought mine from Wellspring Gardens April 2013: $4.95 ea twigs on arrival, I planted them in a $5.00 Walmart 16 gallon tote. They need to go in the ground but we were waiting for our 68 year old pine in the front to be removed. They can be trained into many forms, we like a shrub form.
Acca sellowiana, Feijoa. Attractive gray-green evergreen shrub or tree which produces small very tasty fruit in late summer and early fall. Excellent as a hedge or can grow to a small tree.
The subacid Fruit are oval-shaped and 1 - 3 inches in length. The fruit is not a guava, but the flavor suggests a combination of pineapple and guava sometimes with a hint of spearmint or wintergreen.
Native to South America. Grows best in cooler areas where the temperature stays above 15F. Fruit and flower production is best in areas that receive atleast 50 hours of chilling each year.
Prefers full sun, partial sun or partial shade. Drought tolerant once established. If left unpruned it will form a small tree with a height and spread of 15 feet. Zone 8. Has been successfully grown in protected areas of Victoria, B.C.(Canada)

__________________
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Growin’ a bunch
Orinoco
"Ice Cream" Namwah
Williams hybrid
FHIA 17
Dwarf NamWah

merce3

I use the same walmart totes for pots... they work great with the handles. it's too bad that's the biggest size they sell, although I don't really know how well they will hold up over time (my handles are fraying and I can see the plastic cracked on yours).

__________________

harveyc

My concern/question is mostly about the suitability of temperatures as the fruit matures here. Too warm or too mild can adversely affect the flavor quality.

Mark Albert in Ukiah has grown dozens of old big name varieties and found many not to perform well in his climate which is a little later/cooler than here and he says some of his favorites haven't done well in SoCal.

__________________