Feijoas: Green Gold

It feels odd my blogger name 'Ahipara Girl' because I'm now in my early 40's, no longer a girl. But Ahipara is where I lived as a kid with my grandparents for the first eight years of my life. We had a giant feijoa (pronounced 'fee-joe-ah') tree out front. Big enough for grandad to build a swing for me under it; and to be able to climb up and read books in the branches. My grandmother made feijoa ice blocks, jam, preserves, crumbles, and juice. We scoffed them and threw the empty husks at each other afterwards. Feijoa wars in our front yard.

I'm convinced I am part feijoa. They are so yummy. Sweet, a bit tart but so moreish. You eat the flesh. The best way is straight from the ground (they are ripe when they fall, you shake the branch and then duck as they fall), cut them in half (or just bite them) and then with a spoon scoop out their innards and eat. Soooo good. I think we all get a bit guts achey because we eat so many. In Wellington, they are not as abundant as the upper regions of New Zealand where its warmer. They can be huge, the size of small apples. They are also known as pineapple guavas! Who knew that?

Thank you Catherine (of Imba Design) for dropping off a bag to us. Precious fruit. In the writing of today's post, my nine year old has kindly finished the whole bag. He did bring me a bowl of cut fruit first, so thankfully I get to imbibe in some. I did have a friend invite us to come get some fruit from her place in Tawa, which I will have to now that Marcus has completely demolished the lot. We need to replenish our supply.

I love being a home girl. One day I will travel but for now, I'm happy in our own little corner of the world.