Autumn in New Zealand heralds the arrival of the green, egg-sized fruits that fall from the trees and buckets of them are often given to neighbors and co-workers. People buy it only in cases of extreme desperation.
The fresh fruit, whose pulp is sandy, gelatinous and creamy in color, is used in cupcakes, cakes, jams and smoothies, and starts appearing on fine dining menus every March –Early autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Out of season, it can be found in a variety of foods and beverages such as fruit juices and wine, yogurt and kombucha, chocolate and popcorn.
This ubiquitous fruit is the feijoa, native to South America. Its taste is hard to describe. But it's easy to recognize that, like the kiwi that originated in China and the native bird, the feijoa has become a quintessential symbol of New Zealand for many here, or of native Maori in general.
“It's definitely something I relate to modern Aotearoa pataka, modern food pantry,” said Monique Fiso, a chef of Maori and Samoan descent who has worked in top New York restaurants for more than five years. Now back in New Zealand, he is a pioneer of modern Polynesian cuisine. “It's definitely one of my favorite fruits, especially when making sorbet, it's so refreshing,” she said.
Not all New Zealanders like feijoas, he added. Something she couldn't understand. “It seems a little crazy to me,” he said.
For fans, nothing beats the fall experience of eating a whole bucketful of freshly fallen fruit. “You can cut it in half and eat it with a spoon, or you can open it with your teeth and suck the contents,” said David Farrier, a New Zealand filmmaker living in Los Angeles, somewhat wistfully.
People have compared feijoas to guavas (a distant relative) and a combination of pineapple and strawberry.
Last year, 8 Wired's Wild Feijoa 2022, a feijoa-flavored sour beer, beat out more than 800 other beers to win the top spot at the National Beer Awards. Their brewer, Søren Eriksson, is originally from Denmark but has lived in New Zealand for nearly 20 years.
“I like them all in and with the skin,” he said, adding that the feijoa skin gives his award-winning Belgian-style lambic beer its special flavor. “I wanted to do something traditional, but uniquely Kiwi.”
Rohan Bicknell, an Australian who imports and exports fruit and vegetables, discovered feijoa by accident in 2013 when a passion fruit shortage in his home country forced him to order some from New Zealand. Suppliers include several hundred kilos of feijoas. Bicknell found them delicious, and within a week they sold out, bought by nostalgic New Zealand expats.
“They become like children,” he said. “Sometimes we have to listen to their childhood stories for an hour or more. But it makes you laugh even if you hear it 200 times a week.
“Typical beer advocate. Future teen idol. Unapologetic tv practitioner. Music trailblazer.”