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Edible Flowers from Pineapple Guava – Perfect for the Edible Landscape

Ornamental/edible plants, Plant information No Responses »

Jun 132012

Early summer the flowers of the pineapple guava are beautiful and edible

by Avis Licht – Edible flowers aren’t the usual fare for most people. But I have some favorites that even the most dubious of eaters would enjoy. The pineapple guava, Feijoa sellowiana, has beautiful as well as delicious flowers. You eat the succulent petals that are almost sweet. Not the red stamens.

I’ve written about Feijoa in another post, talking about the tart and tasty fruit, but now is the time it is flowering in the northern hemisphere, so we’re talking about edible flowers.

How to use Feijoas. The sweet, fleshy white and purplish flower petals can be added to salads. Pluck them carefully and the fruits will still develop. The fruits have a delicious minty-pineapple flavor. Cut them in half and scoop out the pulp with a spoon.

The fruit ripens towards winter and the best fruit drops to the ground when ripe. If you pick it off the bush it’s likely not to be quite ripe.

Those of you with this shrub in the yard, check out the tasty petals and put them in a salad. The rest of you – go run to the nursery and get one of these amazing plants. I know you won’t regret it.

Get all the information in this post on how to grow the Feijoa.

Carefully pluck the petals and leave the rest of the flower to make sure you get fruit.

Just to remind you, the Pineapple Guava is an evergreen shrub, that grows to 15 feet if left unpruned. But you can prune it any way you like. It is easy to care for, doesn’t need much water and best of all around my neighborhood – THE DEER DON’T EAT IT!. Don’t ask me why, but it’s true.

Pineapple Guava – A great shrub for your Edible Landscape

Garden Design, Ornamental/edible plants 12 Responses »

Dec 212011

by Avis Licht

Edible blossoms from the pineapple guava

You can eat the petals from this plant. They’re good!

The Pineapple Guava is one of my favorite plants. It serves many purposes in the edible garden. It’s an easy care, evergreen shrub that has edible flowers, edible fruits and somehow, the deer DON’T eat it. How could you know?

Where I live, deer eat almost all our plants, so having one that does all these good things is a real treasure.

Climate:The Pineapple guava grows in Zones 8 – 10. What this really means is that it likes some cool weather, can go down to 10 deg. F, likes rain in the 30″ – 40″ range, and doesn’t like super hot daytime weather – not so good in the desert.

Soil: It’s adaptable to a wide range of soils, including acidic soil, but prefers a humus rich soil that is well drained. Adding compost and not manure works for this plant.

Water: This is considered a drought tolerant plant, meaning it survives with relatively little water, but needs adequate water for good fruit production. During dry spells you should give it additional water. In real terms, this means observe your plant. In real terms, in the garden, you always need to observe your plants. Everyone’s garden is different from the norm that all these books talk about. You’ll always want and need to adjust requirements to your own situation.

You can prune it, you can eat it, you can watch the hummingbirds feed on the flowers

Sun: Full sun is best – but it can tolerate partial shade

Wind:The Pineapple guava makes a good windbreak. It can take some salt air, but I wouldn’t put it on the dunes as a first line wind break.

Care: What I really love about this plant is that it needs so little care. It just grows happily on its own. You can prune it for shape or let it alone. If you prune it back hard, you will lose some fruit production.

Pests: Almost none. Well, I haven’t seen any.

Fruit and flowers: The flowers which bloom late Spring are edible. The thick petals are spicy and are eaten fresh. The petals may be plucked without interfering with fruit set. The fruit ripens in late Fall, which is a great boon, since almost everything else in the garden is gone. The fruit in the picture below, came from my garden on December 22 after many days of frost. They taste fresh and tangy. We eat them by scooping out the fruit with a spoon. Or you can cook them in puddings, pastry fillings, fritters, dumplings, fruit-sponge-cake, pies or tarts.

Cut the fruit in half and scoop it out with a spoon. Really tasty.

If you live in the right climate, I really think you ought to try growing the Pineapple Guava. It’s a giving and a forgiving plant for your edible landscape.

If you want to know a lot more about this plant go to this site at Purdue University.


	
			Pineapple_guava_bloom
How to grow a Pineapple guava plant.

			
			Foliage of feijoa
Growing Feijoa sellowiana, also known as Pineapple Guava

			
			the fruit of the pineapple guava
			
			Pineapple_guava_bloom

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