Gadenin日本語Get the appThe rule: the fruit tells you, not the calendar
Feijoa does not change color when it ripens. It goes from green to green, sometimes with a faint dulling of the sheen and a slight yellowing at the base, and it stays the same size for weeks before it is ready. There is no reliable visual signal on the branch, which is why every experienced grower stops looking at the shrub and starts looking at the ground beneath it.
When a feijoa is ripe, it abscises: the stalk releases and the fruit falls of its own accord. That fall is the ripeness test, and it is the only one that works. A fruit that is not ready holds firmly and will not come away with a gentle pull.
This is unusual enough that it needs saying twice. Do not harvest by picking. Harvest by collecting. The whole crop of a shrub comes down over roughly three to six weeks in autumn, a few fruit at a time, and your job through those weeks is a daily walk underneath with a basket.
Why a picked feijoa disappoints
A feijoa pulled off the branch before it is ready is hard, the flesh is gritty and pale, the jelly around the seeds has not formed, and the aroma that the fruit is grown for is barely there. It will soften on a windowsill over a week or two, but it softens rather than ripens: the sugars and the aromatic compounds develop on the plant in the last days before the fruit lets go, and a fruit removed early never makes them. People who taste feijoa for the first time from a supermarket, where fruit is often picked early to survive transport, frequently conclude they do not like it.
The difference is not subtle. A fruit that fell this morning is fragrant enough to scent a room, the flesh near the skin is soft and the center is a clear sweet jelly. The same fruit taken from the branch four days earlier is crunchy and tastes faintly green.
There is one legitimate exception. Late in the season, if a hard frost is forecast that would damage fruit still hanging, strip what is left and bring it indoors to soften. It will be second-rate, and it is better than losing it.
| Test | Not ready | Ready |
|---|---|---|
| How it left the branch | You pulled it off | It fell on its own |
| Skin color | Green | Still green; color tells you nothing |
| Give under gentle pressure | Hard all over | Slight yield, like a ripe avocado at the stem end |
| Scent at the stalk end | Almost none | Strong, sweet, carrying |
| Flesh when cut | Opaque, gritty, white | Clear jelly around the seeds |
| Taste | Faint and green | Full aromatic sweetness |
Collecting: the daily walk
Through the drop weeks, go out once a day, twice in warm weather. A fruit left lying overnight in the wet is fine; a fruit left for three days on warm ground bruises, attracts wasps and slugs, and starts to ferment. The single biggest cause of wasted feijoa crops is not disease but a gap of a week between collections.
- Prepare the ground before the drop begins Mow the grass short under the shrub, or lay a light mulch, and clear away anything the fruit can hide in or split on. Some growers spread a sheet or net under the plant so fruit is caught and easily seen.
- Walk the drop zone daily Feijoa rolls, and it is green against green grass. Work in a circle out to well beyond the branch tips, and use your hands as well as your eyes in longer grass; you will find fruit by feel that you walked past twice.
- Shake the shrub gently to bring the next few down A light shake or a tap on the main branches drops the fruit that was ready today anyway and saves you a visit. Never shake hard: fruit that is not ready will not come off, and hard shaking bruises what is left.
- Sort as you collect Anything split, badly bruised, wasp-holed or already soft goes in a separate bag for the kitchen today. Sound fruit goes in the main basket. Never mix them; one fermenting fruit spoils a box.
- Eat the freshest ones the same day Feijoa is at its best within a day or two of dropping. Cut it in half and scoop the flesh out with a teaspoon, leaving the skin, which is bitter and gritty.
Keeping the crop and what to do with a glut
Sound fruit keeps about a week at room temperature and two to four weeks in the refrigerator in a paper bag or an open container. It does not keep in a sealed plastic bag, which traps moisture and turns the flesh brown around the core. Check the box every few days and pull out anything going soft or translucent.
The flesh browns quickly once cut, so scoop and use it, or add lemon or lime juice if you are preparing it in advance. It freezes well as scooped pulp, straight into a bag or tub, and comes out fine for baking, smoothies and sauces though it loses the texture. Feijoa is high in pectin, so jam and chutney set readily without help.
A mature shrub in a good year can bring down forty to sixty pounds (18-27 kg), essentially all within a month, so plan the processing before the drop starts. Decide in advance who is getting a bag, and freeze pulp on the days when the collection is bigger than the kitchen.
Write down the date of the first drop and the date of the last, and the total weight collected. Along with the flowering date, that gives you the length of your ripening window, and it is the number that tells you whether your autumn is long enough for the crop you are trying to grow.