Sunday 6 April 2014

Feijoa skins!

Don't you think that feijoa skins smell delicious?  After you've scooped out the flesh, you're left with a skin that is tart and crunchy and not hugely enticing - and yet, the compost bucket always smells amazing after they've been dumped in it.

I've recently discovered how to extract that flavour and make some delicious concoctions.


Feijoa fizz
Loosely fill a 1L jar with feijoa skins.
Add 2T white sugar.
Cover with water (just cold water straight from the tap).
Leave (covered) in hot water cupboard two days.
Transfer liquid to a 750mL plastic bottle, discard skins.
Add 1T brown sugar.
Top up with tap water.
Return to hot water cupboard until the bottle feels quite 'tight' when you squeeze it (1-2 days).
Chill then drink.

With thanks to Nourishing Revolution.

The yeasts naturally present on the skin ferment the added sugar and turn it all into an incredibly amazing drink :-)


And if you don't have time to wait for fermentation, you can make a still drink in a matter of hours instead:

Feijoa drink
Place a few feijoa skins in a bowl and toss with 1tsp sugar per skin (you really need this much sugar - the skins themselves are very tart).
Cover with boiling water (approx half cup per skin).
Leave to cool, refrigerate and drink :-)

With thanks to OHBaby!.


Lastly, absolutely delicious on white bread (or melt-in-the-mouth consumed off a spoon - ask Martin!) is:

Feijoa jelly
skins of 15-20 medium feijoas (15 gives a mild flavour, with 20 it's almost spicy)
3 1/2 C boiling water
1 x 70g sachet pectin (e.g. Hansells jam setting mix)
4C sugar

Cover feijoa skins with boiling water.  Leave to cool (at least an hour; overnight is fine).
Pour through a seive into a big pot (I used our pressure cooker pot, which I think is 6 quarts).  Discard skins.
Add pectin, cover and bring to the boil.
Add sugar and return to the boil with stirring.
Boil at rolling boil 4 min. (or 2 min. for a softer gel).
Transfer to sterilised jars and seal.

Gives approx 5 cups.

Thanks, again, to OHBaby!.


NOTE: If you only eat a few feijoas a day, you can accumulate the skins in a bag in the freezer until you have enough to make fizz or jelly.

13 comments:

  1. You can also make muffins from feijoa skins: https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/recipes/feijoa-skin-muffins/

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    1. I would love the feijoas skin muffin recipe but can't open the link

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    2. I would love the feijoas skin muffin recipe but can't open the link

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    3. Ingredients

      1 cup feijoa skins (soft and ripe ones are best for this recipe)
      100g butter
      3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
      2 eggs
      1 teaspoon vanilla essence
      1 1/4 cups flour
      1/2 teaspoon salt
      2 teaspoons mixed spice
      1 teaspoon baking powder
      1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped (optional)

      Method

      Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease or line a 12 cup muffin tray.
      Wash your feijoa skins and cut off the bud. Place the feijoa skins in a food processor and whizz them until they are mushy. If you don’t have a food processor you can finely chop them.
      Melt the butter in a pot or in the microwave.
      Add the sugar and the eggs to the melted butter and mix gently until all is combined.
      Add the vanilla essence and feijoa skins and mix to combine.
      Sift the flour, salt, mixed spice and baking powder. Add to the wet mixture along with the walnuts. Fold the mixture together until the dry ingredients are all incorporated – be careful not to overmix.
      Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the centre of the muffin springs back when touched.

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  2. Oh my gosh, this drink is incredible! So easy and so yummy. Thank you :-)

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  4. While I have tried and enjoy your Feijoa fizz recipe, many thanks for sharing the recipe.
    I tried your Feijoa jelly recipe...after 8 mins boiling, I took it off and poured it into jars...it's still like water! And very little colour.
    In the past I've made Feijoa jelly by making it the normal way, which is cooking the fruit, then straining it and it sets up beautifully and is a gorgeous pinky amber colour.
    So now I've had to cook some more fruit, extract the juice and add to the insipid first attempt.

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    Replies
    1. Sorry to hear that! It always has a fairly mild taste (not as strong as regular jelly from fruit) but I've never had it not thicken. Perhaps the pectin (I use Hansell's Jam Setting Mix) was old?

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    2. Try adding a cut up quince, or a few crab apples. And don't bottle your jelly until you have tested a spoon full on a plate will set in a few minutes.

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  5. To ensure setting, add the juice of a fresh not overly ripe lemon, or lime. I added a quince for colour, and also setting properties, along with lemon and lime juice. I got a pale pink jelly, rich with feijoa flavour.

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  6. With the Feijoa Fizz recipe, any 'natural yeasts' will be killed pouring boiling water over. Any fizziness is as a resuult of airborne yeasts settling on the cooled mixture. If you want to use the 'natural yeasts' present on feijoa skins, use only tepid water and set the jar out in the sun. Add dissolved sugar and water only when tepid, if you want to use the feijoa's 'natural yeasts'.

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  7. Has anyone tried the muffins.

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    1. Yes. Whole family likes them. Sweet but acid taste which I like. Like the old tangy fruit lollies. I don't use all the sugar they recommend.

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