The Origins of Feijoas (+ Bonus Handmade, Machine Free Ice Cream Recipe)

Fei-a-what?

I know, I had never heard of them either until I set foot on NZ soil. The word itself is not even coming up in my spellcheck! But man, were we blessed with being here in feijoa season!

So what is a feijoa?

Also known as the pineapple guava, guavasteen, or guayabo, the little green guy has a similar origin as the pineapple: cool subtropical and tropical highlands (less than 1000 m) of southern Brazil, Uruguay, western Paraguay, and northern Argentina.Pronounced fe-JO-a, a German botanist named it after Portuguese botanist João da Silva Feijó, born in the then colony of Brazil. 

Which means everyone who knows our history of traveling and living in Latin America is shocked we're not familiar with the fruit. In all of the Latin markets Matt and I have been to, from southern Mexico all the way down to Argentina, in highlands and lowlands, we never once laid eyes on a feijoa, even though I've read they do grow commercially in Chile and Colombia. 

The feijoa needs hot, dry weather to thrive and was introduced to Europe and North America in the 19^th century. It wasn't brought to NZ until the 1920s, yet it's a crop the kiwis must have nailed pretty quickly as NZ is one of the top growers worldwide. Despite their commonality, locals still get excited when the first feijoa hits the ground, usually sometime in early autumn (feijoas aren't harvested off the tree; one must wait for it to take its pretty little time to fall to the ground. Then it's ready to eat).

So. Many. Feijoas.

So what does a feijoa taste like? Well, my first experience was in juice form when we were only days into our journey in NZ and I saw a bottle of cold pressed feijoa juice on sale at the stupidmarket (a common kiwi saying for supermarket. One I quite like, I must say). It was cloyingly sweet, with a gritty texture that reminded me of pear. I was happy I got the small bottle.

HOWEVER. When plucked right off the ground in fresh form, these little oval-shaped egg-sized nuggets of joy are a pleasure to eat. A tad sweet yet a bit sour when they're firm and first fallen, they do get sweeter with time like any fruit, but I dig them on the sour side. They do have a little of that pear-like sandy texture, which is much better when fresh than in a juice. But they also have a flavor that's all it's own that I can't describe. It would be like trying to explain what banana flavor is without saying banana. Know what I mean? (Side note: an internet source says they taste like a mix of pineapple, strawberry and guava if that helps at all… maybe make a smoothie with those three and get the gist? Hmm.)

AND they're so prolific and smallish, you can eat heaps before you get sick of them! The skin is generally not eaten, so one way to eat the delicacy is you can stick your finger in it, rip it in half and scrape your teeth off the inside of the skin while the flesh and juices ooze into your mouth. Or, you can be more dignified and cut it in half and scoop it out with a teaspoon. Can you tell which way I prefer?

Feijoa guts!

What to do when there are so many feijoas and there's no WAY a household of five will eat them before they go off? You can try giving them away, but we literally couldn't get any takers at the Weka Workshop as all of the locals were already chokkers (translation: "chock full" in Aussie- and Kiwi-speak) with them. So you get creative! We had feijoa in our morning yogurt and granola, we had a dessert with stewed feijoas and whipped cream. We heard about feijoa chutney, but we never saw it. And, of course, local breweries also make alcoholic feijoa cider. Aside from fresh, whole feijoas, the best in our opinion was the feijoa ice cream, recipe shown below.

For size comparison.

So the reason most of us non-Kiwis probably don't know of the feijoa is they are rather delicate and bruise easily, like a fig, making them hard to ship internationally. If you're curious, the season in the southern hemisphere runs from late March to June and apparently they grow in California, where the fruit is harvested October to December. If you DO find feijoas, and you don't live in Aotearoa, we would love to hear where you scored your treasure!

Our lovely host Karen shared the following recipe for feijoa ice cream:

• 200g feijoa

• 100-200g sugar (or to taste, depending on ripeness of fruit)

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• 300g whipped cream

• 1 egg white

Food process fruit, lemon juice and sugar together until pulpy. Beat fruit mixture with egg white until soft peaks form. Whip cream separately. Fold fruit mixture into whipped cream. Freeze until hard ( a few hours). Enjoy!

Source: https://feijoafeijoa.wordpress.com/facts/

Origins of some really awesome coffee

Recently Lindsey left you with a great little piece on our beer adventures through Wellington. Not long after the story was posted my Mum made the comment during a phone conversation that "after all that beer Matt, you must have had one hell of a hangover!" So in response to my mother's concern for my brain cells and in case any of you wonderful readers out there have a similar night out in 'the coolest little capital in the world,' we here at Origins of Food have a few recommendations for some great local spots you can find to cure those morning-after pains.

David Chang's Lucky Peach quarterly, found all across Wellington.

Before we landed in Wellington on a more than brisk evening, Lindsey and I had spent the previous 10 days at Awhi Farm, which aside from being an incredible place to learn and discover, hadn't really done much to tantalize our strong addiction to coffee. Now I can drink bad or instant coffee just as much as the next guy, but after spending four years on and off as a barista and having just finished a stint working with one of Sydney's up and coming top local roasters, by the end of our 10 days we had a strong craving for a coffee that could be prepared by more sophisticated techniques then the stirring of a spoon. Luckily for us, Wellington was the right place to land with such a craving!

Following the trends of other coffee hot spots around the world, Wellington has a similar city vibe to other 'cup of Joe' meccas with political graffiti on the walls, buskers hanging out on the street corners, more local breweries than you can poke a stick at and a young and financially able generation of food and beverage lovers who through their dedication have created a city ripe for creative and enthusiastic cafe owners and baristas who wish to push the limits of coffee with their brews.


There was no way that we could possibly visit all the cafes that had made our shortlist while still staying mentally sane, so we decided to keep it simple, local and concentrated on those that fell into a three or four block radius of our hostel. (This really didn't limit our options what so ever.)

Single origin beans on offer at Lamason

First stop took a little wandering to find, but we eventually stumbled out of the rain and into Lamason Brew Bar, which really is the answer to every coffee-hungry, head-heavy traveler. With 5 single origin coffees on offer we were spoilt for choice, however, the real choice came with method. We had heard of Lamason's fame for making an amazing siphon coffee, so a little hesitantly we let go our craving for a big dark espresso and hoped that their Siphon would deliver the caffeinated goods just as well. After choosing two different Ethiopian beans for trial, the preparation of the coffee was enough to wake us up and the coffee itself didn't disappoint.

For those unsure of what exactly siphon coffee entails:
It is a simple brewing method by which water is heated in a bottom chamber with the top half sitting ajar. Once the water is boiling the top cylinder is placed on top thus creating a seal which causes the water to travel up a tube and into the top cylinder where the ground coffee has been placed. Once the coffee has been stored and brewed for a designated period of time the seal is broken and the coffee plunges again to the bottom chamber where it is ready to be served. This technique allows baristas to extract more nuanced and individual flavors from the coffee compared to the big bold flavors associated with espresso.

Step one: water is boiled by a bunsen burner like flame in the 

bottom chamber

Step two: Ground coffee is added, a seal is created and water travels up the device into the top cylinder to brew

Step three: seal is broken and coffee travels back down to the bottom chamber,
ready to be served

Our selected coffees.
The Harar was bold and acidic, nice and earthy while the Yirgacheffe was delicate and fruity.
EVERYTHING WAS AWESOME.

With some coffee in our bellies and our eyes opened to the world of siphons, our next stop on the coffee train was around the corner at Flight Coffee's Hangar cafe. With a big space that has been retrofitted with all of coffee's latest gadgets and trends, it was here that we had heard great things and where we were keen to continue soothing our deprivation of good coffee. Lindsey was eager to get a stronger burst and ordered a Guatemalan espresso while I found comfort in the idea of another brewed coffee hoping that the larger quantity of the pour over coffee compared to the espresso would help warm me from the cold and wet New Zealand day outside.  Again, we were happily pleased with two outstanding coffees. We were also impressed by Hangar's 'post cards' that came with our coffee. These were little cards that gave a brief description of region, variety, the producer and altitude of our coffee while also giving a chart that explained some of the flavor characteristics of each cup.

Caffeine inducing and informational. Bonus!

We were already feeling pretty awake and bordering on shaking at this point but we couldn't stop now that we were on a roll, so we bounced ourselves over to the next recommended cafe in the neighborhood, the showroom cafe for Supreme Coffee Roasters, Customs Brew Bar. Supreme Coffee started as a small coffee roaster from Wellington but as all good things do, they have grown and now have expanded their service throughout their home country and into Australia. Lindsey and I were more than happy to make one last stop and enjoy some tasty espressos in this beautiful, modern and sleek cafe that makes you feel both at home and indulged. The perfect way to finish our Wellington coffee crawl. 

Customs Brew Bar

So if you're ever seeking some delicious and interesting cups of coffee in the Wellington downtown area, give these locations a try and leave sat-is-fied. 

We most definitely did.

…and don't forget to drink plenty of H2o