The indescribable scent of feijoa – the exotic fruit that became the smell of New Zealand childhood | New Zealand

I used to live in California where a neighbour had a massive feijoa tree. There were a lot of big fruit trees around, so it was common for people to put out a bag of fruit near the street and people would snatch them up.

I stumbled upon this full bag of feijoas one day in front of their house and squealed FEIJOAS! (They call them pineapple-guavas there). I took only a handful because I didn’t want to be greedy. The next day I walked by and clearly no one had taken any so I took more. A few more days and I was snatching the remainder. The homeowner came out and chatted with me. She said they’d been putting out what they’d couldn’t eat for years and hardly anyone ever takes them. I told them to let me know whenever they had any and I’d take them.

Eventually, she started leaving bags of fruit on my porch during fruiting season. And that’s how I got free feijoa delivery. One year I made chutney and jam!

As an interesting side note, the “pineapple-guava” tree is actually a very popular landscape plant in the US. But whenever I’ve stumbled upon them in fruiting season, fruit is rotting in the ground or being eaten by crows.