Feijoa Feast

A friend shared her feijoa harvest with me the same week a feijoa recipe by Ruth Pretty had featured in the “Press” Weekend magazine.

I made a few adaptations.  I like to measure rather than weigh, and I substituted sultanas for dates.  The loaf is delicious!

Feijoa loaf

Feijoa and Ginger Loaf

(recipe from Ruth Pretty with adaptations)

Makes one loaf or eight mini loaves

Three large feijoas (320 g), peeled and diced
1 ½ cups sultanas
175 ml boiling water
1 cup sugar
71g butter
2 tblsp diced crystallised ginger, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 ¾ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 180 Celsius.  Lightly grease a loaf tin or 8 mini loaf forms
Put feijoas, sultanas, water, sugar, and butter in a saucepan and stir to combine.  Bring to boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.  Add ginger and stir to combine.  Remove from heat and cool.
Add egg and vanilla and stir to combine.
Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda into the mixture and fold to combine.
Put into prepared tin or loaf forms and into preheated oven.
Full size loaf- bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
Mini loaves – bake 12-15 minutes or until centres bounce back when prodded.
Remove from oven onto cooling rack.
Keeps for up to three days.
Slice and serve.

The feijoas on our ‘Unique’ tree are still small.  One fell off and tasted fine, but it was tiny compared to the ones from my friend’s tree.

Our feijoas are still small

When  more are ripe I’ll be making this loaf again.  It’s quite moist (could be the sultanas) so needs to be eaten with a fork.  I’m lucky enough to have a left-handed cake fork.  I’m tempted to buy some mini loaf ‘forms’.  They would be fun to bake with.

“When it is feijoa harvest time
this makes a fruity loaf sublime.”