Feijoas skin and all (forum)

Mark starts with ...
Some cultivars of feijoa may be theoretically perfect fruits, in the sense that every part is edible. i.e. as with babaco, there is no skin to peel nor seeds to remove.

Most people assume that feijoas must be peeled; and in fact, in fruits grown from seed, the skin is usually too sour to eat with pleasure. (In this they resemble some types of plum.)

Jonathan Banks who runs the Pialligo Apple Orchard near Canberra has a grove of E6 feijoas. (E6 is a variety created by the Burnley Agricultural Station in Melbourne.) He pointed out to me that the skins were pleasant to eat. I have since found that the same is true for the cultivars Unique and Large Oval. [But see the disclaimer below.]

Their skins are more sour than the flesh, but the combined effect is pleasant. Large Oval, in fact, is otherwise a little too blandly sweet. It tastes better to me if it is first cut into slices which are then eaten skin and all. (Louis Glowinski in his book is dismisive of Large Oval, perhaps because he never tried it that way.)

Now the disclaimer: I have not suffered any ill effects from eating feijoa skins, and I note several recipes on the Internet in which unpeeled feijoas are used (after cooking) for jams or canning. I also found a story about Latin Americans eating the ripe fruit skin and all. However I am not a biochemist and have not done any toxicological studies on what other chemicals the skins may contain. So I take no responsibility at all for any ill effects you may suffer from such experiments.

Mark


Time: 21st May 2009 1:14am

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peter says...
mark,
you can also eat the flower petals.

Time: 21st May 2009 8:56am

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kert says...
Care when shop bought as insecticide residues calculated on basis that you not eat skin.

Time: 22nd May 2009 11:17am

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Doubtful says...
please expand kert...does that mean we shouldn't eat any fruit with skin on/or does it mean that the with-holding period for these fruits are longer due to the specific pesticide used?

Does washing in mild detergent remove the residue?

Time: 25th May 2009 12:34am

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kert says...
What I meant was when working out the safe with-holding period for an insecticide account is taken of how the food is consumed . I am pretty sure that feijoas are deemed to be eaten without the skin. Naturally none of this applies if you grow the fruit yourself and know what is on the skin.

Time: 25th May 2009 10:44am

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Tim Tinker says...
Yes, flowers taste great. I have been eating the skins and the flowers for many years and have reached 71 without any ill effects apart from a little madness. I propagate with seeds from selected fruit and now get fruit over 200g each and the skin is still OK. I don't know the name of the original plant (but I call them billygoat balls, because of the size and the fruit twining), but I think the Nurseryman had connections with Burnley Gardens. So it could be related to E6.
Tim
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Time: 3rd November 2019 6:07pm

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MarkOConnor1 says...
I understand that Mark Albert in California has had great success in propagating seedling races of feijoas, with an emphasis on taste. You can find some of his videos on Youtube.

Time: 5th November 2019 9:10am

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