Feijoa

The Feijoa plants are starting to flower and it looks like there is going to be lots of flowers and thus hopefully a good crop of fruit this year after a very light harvest last year.  This is another of the fruits we ate in New Zealand as children.

Binomial name : Acca (Feijoa) sellowiana
Common name : Feijoa  or Pineapple guava


The tree originates from Southern Brazil and for once did not seem to have been an Incan food item ,as far as I can determine. It is a slow growing evergreen tree (about 4m x 4m) with thick waxy leaves a bit like an olive tree. It has spectacular flowers:

Pollination is by bees so hopefully my native bees that are nearby find it a useful food source. The fruit is about 100mm long and egg shaped although some varieties are pear shaped. The colour of the fruit does not change when it is ripe - it stays a dull grayish green colour for most of the varieties. We normally wait for the fruit to fall as a sign it is ready, but a gentle squeeze -if soft- indicates that it is well ripened. The flavour of this fruit is superb. It has a whitish/pink granular flesh with multiple small seeds and a delicate perfume. To eat, cut in half and scoop out with a teaspoon.

Growing it in Brisbane is pretty easy but for the fruit fly problem. I originally got so fed up with losing all the fruit to this pest that I removed my trees but after finding the solution  ( fruit fly netting as soon as pollination has occurred) I replanted 2 trees, as we like the fruit that much. There is a blog post on my method for fruit fly netting on 12/8/10.

Nutritionally it is rich in anti-oxidants and a Pubmed search found some
really interesting research results.

Search term  : Feijoa sellowiana

abstract 1 : An acetone extract showed potent antibacterial activity against gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Significantly it showed more activity against Helicobacter pylori than metronidazole.  This bacterium is the one that causes stomach ulcers ( discovered by Australian Drs and resulted in a Nobel prize for medicine/physiology in 2005). When we diagnose this bacterium in a patient we prescribe Metronidazole as part of the treatment but here is a fruit that works better!  This abstract also demonstrated activity against some pretty nasty gram negative bacteria such as pseudomonas and proteus.  It would be interesting to see research on topical use against these bugs.


abstract 3: An aqueous (or water) methanol extract of leaves showed increased mineralisation of cultured human bone cells -  thus there is potential for treatment and prevention of osteoporosis. I can't imagine what eating the leaves would taste like though!

abstract 6 : Feijoa (acetonic extract)has an anti-inflammatory effect by inhibition of Nitric Oxide.



Conclusion :  a fruit tree that is easy to grow and has delicious fruit
as long as you can overcome the fruit fly problem.

Daleys have specimens of this tree for sale -   there are different varieties
but generally you need to plant 2 trees for cross pollination.


http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/fruit%20pages/feijoa.htm


Also a picture of our first ripe peaches. This is a tropical variety -the size this year seems to be better -  one fruit is about 8cm diameter.

More rain-  42mm yesterday  and 10mm the day before. The ground is like a swamp at present.