Yes it is that time of year again. Feijoas lying on the ground at all the local bays, at the mercy of roaming wekas and possums. Unless I can get there first. This lot were from Pam's at Ohingaroa and they include some of the biggest feijoas I have ever seen!

Here are a couple of recipes to inspire their use.

Feijoa, Walnut Chocolate Cake.

This is one of the easier feijoa cake recipes I have ever used. You don’t need to spend time (and make mess) creaming butter and sugar together, adding eggs one by one, etc., as most recipes call for. This recipe never fails, and makes such a rich moist cake. You can leave out the cocoa if you want a plain feijoa cake and then dust it with icing sugar rather than make a chocolate icing.

2 cups peeled and diced feijoas

100g walnut pieces

150g sultanas or goji berries

200g sugar

100g butter, melted

1 egg

150g flour

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, green cardamom and allspice

3 tablespoons good quality Dutch cocoa

 

Heat your oven to 180°C. Line and grease a 20-22cm diameter cake tin. Mix the feijoas, walnuts, sultanas or goji berries and sugar together in a large bowl. Beat the egg and melted together in a small bowl and then stir into the fruit and sugar mixture. Add the flour, baking powder, spices and cocoa powder. Stir lightly until just combined. Do not overwork the mixture. Spoon the batter into the greased cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin before turning out onto a cake rack. When the cake is completely cooled make the icing and spread evenly over the top of the cake. Decorate with edible flowers, broken pieces of walnuts and goji berries.

 

Chocolate Butter Icing:

50g good-quality dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

100g unsalted butter, softened

200g icing sugar

Milk, to loosen

 

Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water. (Do not allow the base of the bowl to touch the surface of the water.) Allow to cool until the chocolate no longer feels hot to the touch.

Beat the butter in a bowl until soft, and then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Fold in the melted chocolate until completely incorporated (add a few drops of milk if the mixture is a little stiff).

This icing can be kept in the fridge for a few days. Bring to room temperature and beat again until smooth before icing your cake

And one that uses them whole, skins and all!

Spiced Roast Feijoa Chutney

I got this recipe from Pam in Ohingaroa Bay. She also supplies me with bucket-loads of feijoas. It is based on a Peter Gordon recipe, but he adds a stick off a Manuka tree into the roast mix. I have tried with Kanuka as we have so much on our property. Yum. I also found his too sweet (more like a weird jam, not a chutney: so have cut back the sugar). This unusual chutney is a great one, as you use the feijoas still in their skins, not wasting anything. It is also a roasted chutney with unusual spices. The brown/black cardamom gives the chutney a nice smoky flavour, so are well worth hunting out. It does take 2 days to make but is easy to do.

2kg feijoas (bud cut off and feijoa cut in half)

500g red onions, halved

3 large lemons

4 large green chillies

600g white sugar

3 teaspoons salt

150ml apple cider vinegar

1 piece of cassia bark or quill

4 green cardamom pods

4 black cardamom pods

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

 

The night before the day you are going to make the chutney put your feijoas (skins and all) in a food processor and whizz them up so that you have a lumpy mix (not puree). You will need to do this in batches. Do the same with the red onions and the lemons. (Cut the lemons in half first and flick out the pips).

Remove the stems and seeds from the green chillies. Put the sludgey feijoas, lemons, onions and the chillies in a large bowl. Add the salt and vinegar and mix slightly. Add the sugar. Cover the bowl and leave on the bench overnight.

 

The next day preheat the oven to 180°C. Give the mixture in the bowl a good stir and then add the cassia, cardamoms and chilli flakes. Pour this into a large roasting dish and pop it in the oven to cook for 2-3 hours. Give it a stir every half hour or so. It is cooked when the mixture is reddish brown and most of the moisture has evaporated. Take out the cassia quill and whole cardamoms.

Put the chutney into clean jars, seal and leave for at least a week for the flavours to settle and meld. It should keep for at least a year in a cool place.