Guava

I decided to use Guava just to show off this photo of a kereru eating the last of our red guavas at the end of May. We’ve had two full months of fruit supplied with absolutely no input from ourselves. The common cherry guava comes from South America and has red or yellow fruit. Guavas are very hardy, and make an attractive small tree (2-4m tall) with their evergreen glossy leaves and smooth bark. They can also be trimmed into a smaller shrub or a hedge.  The fruit are a bonus and full of vitamin C just in time for winter. If you want to grow your own low maintenance organic fruit – add Guavas to your list. Plant in a reasonably sunny location & you won’t have to do any more. Eat them straight off the tree, or perhaps make a jelly to use on toast when they’re not fruiting. Here’s a Guava Jelly recipe:

Put fruit in pot & just cover with water – bring to the boil.

When fruit is soft, let cool, then roughly mash.

Strain through a muslin (or tea towel) lined colander over night.

Next day, measure juice by cups as you return juice to pot – add half a cup of sugar (or alternative sweetener) and 1 table spoon of lemon juice per cup of juice. The left over pulp will be good in the worm bin, compost or straight back on the garden.

Bring juice to the boil, then simmer (approx. 20 mins) until it passes the jam test. If you don’t know, google jam test but basically the jelly skin wrinkles when cold.

When set pour straight into sterilised jars.