Travelling with family always makes for the best holiday memories. Especially a laid back trip ,in a familiar surrounding,breathing clean air and generally experiencing a feeling of wellness and health leaves deep imprints in my soul. It’s this kind of experiences that I like to pass on to the next generation of kids in my family. While taking the familiar path towards the Darlington bridge ,in Coonoor situated in the Nilgiris,my sister in law , mom and I happened to set our sights on this unusual looking fruit.
It was at first rather difficult to spot in the bright morning sun. Being that it was as green as the foliage around,we almost passed it off as one of the commonly seen ornamental fruits. It grew lush and free inside a private property and the owner was rather helpful in offering information pertaining to this different looking fruit !
The initial attraction and curiosity came from looking at this pretty flower. Coming from a family ,where indeed we do ‘stop to smell the flowers’ and being enchanted by what nature has to offer,we just had to know more about the gorgeous tree that stood tall before us.
The fruit is called ‘Feijoa’…it is related to the guava family and is indigenous to the country of New Zealand. how it landed up on their property,they had no clue,but thankfully do plan on propagating it and putting up the fruits for sale.
Seeing that we were rooted to the spot,she very sweetly offered us some fruit to try. It did taste a lot like a guava without the graininess and as you can see,has a lot less seeds in comparison. That’s good news for folks like me,who don’t really like the seeds too much !!! This one when semi ripe is crunchy and can be eaten whole,skin and all. When very ripe,I’m told ,it can be scooped up like passion fruit,because the centre gets very pulpy and jelly like.
It can be used like the passion fruit ,in cakes,drinks,jams ,jellies etc. The lady has assured us that she is willing to sell us saplings,until then , I look forward to buying the fruit and trying out a few recipes with it. To our knowledge,we know not of any other feijoa trees in this region,I’m thankful for having stumbled across it literally and figuratively and to have been able to share the experience with the little ones in my family !
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