Guavas

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Guavas 

Guavas are generally the size of a fist and may be round or pear shaped, with rough or smooth greenish white, yellow, or red skin. The seed-filled flesh is yellow, bright pink, or red. The best varieties are soft when ripe and have a rind that softens to be fully edible. Large, pear-shaped white fruits are considered the best. Varieties differ widely in flavour and seediness (some have edible seeds). Their aroma is sweet and flowery, yet musky. The taste is sweet to sour with an unusual taste partly due to eugenol, the essential oil found also in cloves.

Green Apple Guavas 

Guavas are common tropical fruits cultivated and enjoyed in many tropical and subtropical regions. The most frequently eaten species, and the one often simply referred to as "the guava", is the apple guava.

Other Names
Guyava, kuawa
Purchase
Choose tender fruits with some yellow colour that have not yet begun to show spots. They should give to gentle pressure.
Avoid
Avoid spotted, mushy, or very green guavas.
Storage
Store at room temperature till soft. Refrigerate ripe fruit in a plastic or paper bag for up to 2 days.
Preparation
  1. Cut in half crosswise

  2. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon

Serving Suggestions
  • In many countries, guava is eaten raw, typically cut into quarters or eaten like an apple

  • In other countries it is eaten with a pinch of salt and pepper or with cayenne pepper or a mix of spices (masala).

  • Purée guava with lime juice, orange juice, and a little honey to make a marinade or glaze for poultry

  • Combine guava purée, pineapple juice, passion fruit purée, dark rum, sugar, lime juice, and a little grenadine (for colour) and run in an ice-cream maker till frozen to make a mai tai sorbet

  • Add diced guava to fruit salads

Flavour Affinities
  • Bananas

  • coconut

  • cream cheese

  • honey

  • lemon

  • lime

  • orange

  • passion fruit

  • pineapple

  • rum

  • strawberries

  • sugar

Health Benefits

Guavas are rich in dietary fiber and vitamin C, with moderate levels of folic acid. Having a generally broad, low-calorie profile of essential nutrients, a single common guava fruit contains about four times the amount of vitamin C as an orange.

Garden Use

Guavas are of interest to home growers in subtropical areas as one of the few tropical fruits that can grow to fruiting size in pots indoors. When grown from seed, guavas bear fruit as soon as two years and as long as 40 years.

Category: Fruit

Sub-Category: Subtropical Fruit

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