Strange, but the feijoa fruit was discovered only at the end of the 19th century by the Joao da Silva Feijo European in the mountainous Brazil, although the plant was widespread in Uruguay, Colombia, and Argentina. Local residents did not consider Its edible. Its name in Latin, quite unusual on hearing, the plant received in honor of its discoverer (Feijoa). After laboratory studies, the tropical fruit feijoa began its victorious procession around the world, because it turned out that it not only has the original taste (a combination of pineapple, strawberry and kiwi), but also extremely useful. On the territory of our state to grow this plant began after the Great Patriotic War. The seedlings were brought to the Caucasus and the Transcaucasian republics. Since then, there are large plantations, from which (mostly) the feijoa fruit falls on the shelves of Russian shops and markets.
In the Northern Hemisphere, this plant actively fructifies from November to December, and in its homeland - in South America - from April to May. Depending on when you buy a feijoa fruit, you can determine where it came from.
The fruit is dark green, up to 5 cm in length, up to 4 in diameter, with a characteristic strawberry flavor. Russian consumers are already accustomed to mango, passion fruit, papaya, litchi, but fruit Feijoa still remains exotic on the tables of Russians. And completely in vain. Because it has a lot of useful properties, of which, first of all, it is necessary to say about the high content of iodine. Depending on the remoteness of the feijoa growth from the sea, per 100 grams of the product accounts for 8 to 35 mg of this element. For comparison, it is worth mentioning that the daily norm of iodine in a man of average composition is 0.15 mg. Consequently, people with thyroid disease should necessarily include it in the diet, since water-soluble compounds of iodine of natural origin are better and more naturally absorbed by the body. Patients with atherosclerosis also feijoa will be extremely useful. Fruits contain a large amount of folic acid, antioxidants, vitamin C. These components will be useful to every person.
The feijoa tree can be grown at home from a cloned process or from seeds. Both methods are effective with the difference in the time of the beginning of fruiting. In the first case, the plant will treat its owners with a fragrant fruit after 4 years, in the second - Through 7. The tree is unpretentious. Loves moisture, responsive to fertilizing. But, during the growth it is necessary to constantly cut stretch shoots. When your tree blossoms, you will understand that the valuable in this plant is not only a feijoa fruit. The photo shows how beautiful the flowers are, but can not convey the fragrance that will fill your home.
Feijoa fruits are widely used in cooking for the preparation of sauces, compotes, fruit salads, fillings and lemonades. But more often the fruit, peeling off the peel, grinded through a meat grinder, mixed with sugar and eaten raw - the so-called "live jam." It maximally preserves all the useful properties of feijoa.