Feijoa skin jelly, syrup and natural fizzy drink

 

Feijoas are my favourite. It has been over 10 years now since I first experimented with making things out of the skins. See previous posts here and here. It's funny that these blog posts are my most popular ever. I even once had someone contact me from the Minister's Office of a department I was working in a few years ago asking for more information on how to make the feijoa fizz because she'd been looking into it and found my blog post. I get a wee bit (hilariously) possessive about the recipe because I'm sure I invented it, and when I see others sharing it online without crediting me I feel a tinge of some kind of emotion. But maybe I'm wrong and someone else invented it before my blog post went a bit viral and was featured in a couple of magazines (insert laughing emoji or something).

I've recently been making quince jelly which you can do with just the skin and cores of quinces. These parts are higher in pectin than the flesh, and are therefore ideal for jelly. The same is true for feijoa skins. 

As I've said before, most of the flavour of feijoas is in the skin, but I don't eat them raw (like some people do) as they are too acidic and tanniny for me. I do use them, however. My top three three uses are currently feijoa skin jelly, syrup and natural fizzy drink.

You can start all three processes in much the same way, by soaking freshly cut and scooped feijoa skins in water. I try to put them in water straight away, as I eat them, so I put a pot of water on the stove and then pop the feijoa skins in. It will keep like this for a day or two.

To make the fizzy drink 

• I loosely fill a jar with feijoa skins and pour in enough water to cover them.
• Add in a tablespoon of sugar per litre and let it sit on the bench for a couple of days.
• Then I strain the liquid into a sealable jar, and let it ferment another couple of days, either on the bench or in the fridge. 

It's very yummy. If you're having trouble with this recipe because feijoa skins are getting moldy, try adding half a teaspoon of salt when you add the sugar. Also, if you have a yeasty layer on top, that's fine and normal. The natural yeast on the feijoa skins is what makes them ferment so well without adding yeast. It also helps to use fresh skins as once the feijoas are old and squishy they have more vinegar type yeasts in them - which is fine if you're making vinegar instead and I've done that before with the skins too!

For feijoa skin syrup 

• You will want to use at least one cup of sugar per 500mls of water, and use enough water to cover your fresh feijoa skins. 
• You will also want about 1tsp of citric acid per cup of water (or half a lemon/cup). 
• If you have a pot loosely filled (of half-filled etc) with feijoa skins, measure the water as you tip it over, and add in enough cups to cover the skins. So say you've added 4 cups (one litre) of water, you'd add in at least two cups of sugar and the citric acid or lemon juice. 
• Let this sit overnight so the flavour has time to absorb into the water. Then bring the mixture to the boil. 
• I like to boil it for a while, but that's up to you. The longer the feijoas boil for, the more colour tends to come out of them. 
• Decant into sterilised glass bottles through a sieve.

This should keep for over a year, but results may vary. I use this syrup primarily for making drinks with soda water, sometimes cocktails, but you can also use it on desserts or pancakes etc.

For the feijoa skin jelly 

• It's very similar to the above. 
• Use one cup of sugar for every cup of water it takes to cover the feijoa skins. 
• Also add the juice of a lemon to help get the pectin out. You could use multiple lemons if you prefer more acidity. 
• I let the feijoa skins sit in the pot with the sugar and water overnight and then bring them to the boil the next day. 
• I let this simmer for a while and even let it cool down a couple of times before boiling again, but you could just let them simmer for a while. It may take 90 minutes or so. 
• You can test to see if the jelly is setting by dripping a bit onto a plate and popping it in the fridge. If it goes quite jelly-like and stops running it will probably set in the jars too.
• After building the mixture should be a lovely red colour, but this may vary.
• Line a colander with a muslin cloth or clean tea-towel, pour the hot liquid through it to strain out the skins and any sediment. Sometimes I do this a bit earlier on and then keep boiling the clear red liquid until it's jelly enough.
• Decant into sterilised glass jars with a metal ladel while the mixture is still very hot. I sterilise them by putting clean jars in the oven or sometimes just by pouring boiling water over them.
• Put the lids on while it's still very hot and hopefully they will suck in after a little while to seal.

This jelly has a strong feijoa flavour and is great on scones, crumpets and toast. I love to spread a bit of cream cheese on toast and then put the jelly on top. Extremely yummy!

So those are my three favourite ways to use feijoas at the moment. What are yours?