Yes, grainy is a better term rather than the negative “gritty”. The sparse, soft seed content of feijoa does not constitute “grit”, a term better reserved for hominy grits, chicken grit, or a gritty drama.
5 Likes
I was thinking more of the Dirty Dozen or the Magnificent Seven rather than the singular whatever-that-is, above.
That is the mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers, named “Gritty” 
That is an apt name for a hockey mascot.
I forgot to mention the movie “True Grit” (and its remake).
1 Like
Well, I agree that the feijoa texture isn’t unpleasant, any more than some really good pears.
Seth Williams, Beaverton OR here. I have several cultivars in, some for about 8 years. I have never gotten past blooms although it is in the warmest microclimate I have… I grew them at another site in NE Portland from 1992 until 2012 with same outcomes. That said, there is a commercially viable feijoa orchard in nearby Hillsboro which I’ve not been to yet.
I lived in NZ 2008 to 2010 where Feijoa culture is far advanced to here. I had multiple bearing bushes in my yard and all over the neighborhood. I harvested hundreds of pounds and used them in so many ways. There are also numerous commercial orchards and feijoa are found in mainstream groceries as well as at farmstands. There are some processed products on store shelves and yummy distilled and fermented products.
About the texture comments, I understand why people use the word gritty. A bit like Asian pears (aka Nashi), the tongue can sense stiff cellular walls within the flesh of feijoa fruit that is somewhat irregular in its location. In my experience this textural variation reduces when fruit becomes super-ripe, when it is more custard-like.
Hope to read more about this undervalued fruit from others.
2 Likes
Seth,
Have you tried hand pollinating? I have several fruit that without my help set poorly or not at all like Akebia, pawpaw, and feijoa. My understanding is feijoa pollination is mostly left to the birds but it can take some time for birds to discover that these blooms are tasty. Instead of waiting for the birds to figure it out, you can just take my finger and pass the pollen when I’m near it. Using this method I get a good fruit set although some fruit dropped early, some did make it to maturity. I hope you can start to enjoy them again from your own garden!
3 Likes
The feijoa orchard mentioned above is the Vial Family Farm (grapes are their main crop).
Seth: Do you regularly water your feijoa plants during the summer?
Are they in-ground or in pots?
What is the total bloom count in any one year?
In over 25 years, birds have only been destructive to my feijoa bush. Some tiny birds come during bloomtime and beak the fleshy petals off for a source of moisture. The whole flower is knocked to the ground in the process. Out of thousands of blooms, I am losing hundreds, not a big deal.
The most bees I have seen at that plant is about 3. In other parts of the world, blackbirds are said to be pollinators. I have never seen a robin or jay in the bush, and there are no blackbirds here.
3 Likes
Harvest my first Mammoth yesterday, 11/23/21. and was delicious. Much better than previous years. One of the best fruit I’ve ever had period. I should have taken a picture but was too lazy to find my phone but the transparent flesh was much more apparent than the one taken last year. The flavor was less Kiwi and more an animal of its own. I see where the minty description comes in but in a very pleasant way. I have a dozen or more fruit still hanging and I also have a Nikita that has some fruit. An observation about my climate is I think the fruit will ripen faster with irrigation. I had extended periods of dry and I noticed the fruit didn’t swell at all until the rains returned. The plant looked fine but the fruit noticeably started to grow once there was consistent moisture. For me, Mammoth has been my most prolific and consistent producer. Fruit seems to survive fairly cold frosts. That is an advantage where I am as usually I don’t get a 25 degree night until mid Dec. I’ve added 2 new cultivars. Unique and Ramses. I’ll report back as I get more results.
5 Likes
What would you estimate is the size and/or weight was of your Mammoths?
Very encouraging. I have Mammoth, I need to put some more growth on mine.
Not huge. Large chicken egg size. I think that is partly my fault for not irrigating.
Mine started to fruit in year 4. I had a seedling fruit in year 2 but only 2 fruit. They are now on year 5 and a good bushy 4’ tall and wide.
1 Like
There is a fellow a few blocks away from me in PDX who has a Mammoth, his get in the 2 to 3-ounce range, or large egg-size.
1 Like
Harvested Nikita tonight. Small fruit. Smaller than an egg. Fully delicious though. Ate the whole thing including flesh and the flesh was great! No graininess at all.
3 Likes
Usually eating a complete fruit is described as “…ate it peel and all”,
implying that fruit peels are not the preferable part of the fruit.
Did you prefer the feijoa peel to its flesh?
To me, the skin added to the flavor. Wouldn’t say I preferred it to the flesh but added to the flavor.
2 Likes
Decided I’d move this discussion to a more specific thread!
So how long do you think that might take to happen? It’s about 4 weeks out now and so far they look pretty good, no leaf drop yet and mostly seem healthy looking:
A few spots have what looks like minor frost damage on leaves, but so far at least the bush hasn’t dropped them:
1 Like
Looks like some bronzing there, so they have been affected. At 4 weeks out post-freeze, just shake a branch and if no | few green leaves fall, you will be fine. I haven’t seen significant leaf drop here, even after recent hard east winds. We had 21 degrees twice during the cold spell.
The major difference in this Portland winter cold spell compared to most was no sunshine and high humidity and little breeze. The same 21 degrees with sun, low humidity, and drying winds would have caused leaf burning and drop on many semi-hardy broadleaf evergreens.
2 Likes