Pineapple Guavas - what to do with unripe fruit?

13 years ago

My parents had a Pineapple Guava tree when I was growing up and I loved eating the fruit every year, so I was excited to find out the house I moved into this year had a huge tree in the backyard! It's finally that time of year when the fruit starts falling from the tree but when I cut them open they don't appear to ripe enough to eat =(.

I remember the fruit from my parents tree to have a clear gel inside with the seeds but the ones from my tree appear to be pretty solid inside. I thought maybe it was just a slightly different variety but I found one that partially formed the gel with some seeds so there went that theory.

So now I'm sitting on about 100lbs of fruit that I have collected (from the ground) and I have no idea what to do with it since it doesn't appear to be ripe. Is it possible to ripen off the tree? I've tried stuffing some in a bag with apples but it doesn't appear to help. Is there anything I can make with them that's edible or are they pretty much just compost material?

Thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:125689}}

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Comments (3)

oregonwoodsmoke
13 years ago
You can always make things like chutney with unripe fruit.

I suggest that you try the Harvest Forum (here on Garden Web). Maybe someone there has some good recipes.
larry_gene
13 years ago
The two lower left halves look typical, the other halves are similar to some of mine that are actually over-ripe, that is, the gel becomes a void and the flesh becomes leathery. Did your tree receive regular water during fruit formation?

The brownish areas of the fruit are typical of the leathery syndrome also.

Feijoa fruit will ripen when brought indoors, but you do not give a timeline. Some of my hard fruit has taken a week to soften indoors. Perhaps feijoas do not respond to gassing in a bag.

If the fruit feels rubbery when squeezed and is solid and gives a juicy sheen when cut, it should be edible.

The whole west coast had an odd spring and summer this year, I would wait until next year's crop to doubt the potential quality of your fruit. Fruit up here (Portland) is very late and only a minority of fruits have filled out. Nothing has dropped so far. I would have expected California fruit to be long gone.
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landscapewitch
13 years ago
Pineapple guavas are usually grown from seed and can be highly variable. Your parents might also have had a superior tree as well as effects of your strange weather this year. Grafted or cutting grown varieties are worth looking into though it seems One Green World is the only nursery to carry them. Not a certain eBay seller!

Pineapple Guavas - what to do with unripe fruit?

Comments (3)

oregonwoodsmoke

larry_gene

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