THE GREEN VITAMIN BOMB

Do you feel that your body is suffering from iodine deficiency or your metabolism has been disrupted? Is your blood pressure fluctuating and you keep getting gastritis symptoms? It turns out that there is no need to rush to the chemist's to get some medicinal preparations. You can cope with many complaints on your own simply by including feijoa [pineapple guava or guavareen] in your diet. Plenty of this exotic fruit, the feijoa, has already been on sale on Azerbaijani stalls since the end of October.

What kind of fruit is it?

Feijoa comes from South America where it grows in Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay and in northern Argentina. In Azerbaijan the feijoa grows in the subtropical areas of the south-east, in Lankaran in particular. As regards its history, this fruit "came into being" in the 19th century. When they were studying nutritious, edible plants, researchers paid particular attention to the greenish fruit growing on small evergreen trees. The fruit is named after the Brazilian botanist, Joao da Silva Feijo, who discovered it. Feijoa is one of the most cold-resistant tropical plants and can survive frosts as low as 14 degrees centigrade without being particularly harmed.

In what ways is feijoa nutritious and what medical complaints can be treated with it? First and foremost, feijoa is the only plant that can be compared with the products of the sea in its iodine content. We are obliged to the sea breezes for this, because they carry the iodine vapour. So, only fruits that grow in real sunlight by the sea are truly of value. In both scientific and folk medicine feijoa fruits are used to treat diseases of the thyroid gland. It is recommended in cases of vitamin C deficiency, inflammatory diseases of the gastro-intestinal tract, gastritis and pyelonephritis.

Why does our body need iodine? So that our memory remains good and our thinking processes do not slow down. We do have iodine in our body. That's what makes us hale and hearty, cheerful, and full of strength and energy so we can do a lot. If we did not have iodine, we would feel weak, become sluggish and suffer from rapid fatigue. Besides the high iodine content in the feijoa, there are 93 other nutritious substances, so it is precisely for this reason that this fruit can be regarded as a treasure house of nutritious substances. It contains practically all the vitamins, cellulose, pectins, malic acid, irreplaceable sugars and micro- and macro elements. 

Feijoa soon helps to get the metabolism going properly, to lower blood pressure and "calm down" the heart. If you have skin problems, then ethereal oil of the fruits which contain anti-inflammatory properties will help you to deal with them.

The feijoa tastes and smells like a mixture of strawberries, kiwi fruits and pineapple. Just imagine how you can vary a dish with it!

Selecting feijoa

You have to know how to choose the right feijoa. So you don't make a mistake and to ensure you are buying the right fruits, you need to cut the fruit across lengthwise: if the flesh is transparent, it means the fruit is ripe. If the fruit is brown, do not buy it because it is already going bad. If the flesh is white and opaque, the fruit is not ripe.

The raw fruit raw fruits do not retain their properties for more than a week, so if you buy a large amount of them, it is best to process them straight away (for example, to grater them with sugar). 

Jam, stewed fruits, deserts, salads and sauces can be made from the small green fruits. Feijoa combines well with various types of seafood, especially with white fish like cod. Feijoa can be minced with fish or simply be an accompanying side dish. A spicy sauce made from the fruit is served with lamb and poultry. It makes an attractive side dish combined with small chunks of boiled vegetables such as carrot and cabbage. But it is best not to heat the fruits themselves as they become excessively soft.

Feijoa is a very delicate fruit and cannot be transported when it is ripe, because it immediately gets bruised. Feijoa is therefore gathered before it is completely ripe and falls off the tree.

A fruit with differences

When feijoa is consumed, it differs in the way it tastes and the way it is used. The fact is that the fruit's skin is in principle edible and moreover very nutritious since it contains phenol compounds like catechin and leuco-anthoxians, biologically active substances that are strong anti-oxidants and form part of the preventive treatment for oncological diseases. But because it has a tart, astringent taste, the skin spoils the taste of this food. 

The simple approach is to peel the fruit, to dry the skin and make tea with it so that not a single anti-oxidant is lost. When you see this fruit, stock up on it for future use - don't be mean about it!

Here are a few tasty and useful recipes which will not only vary your cookery, but will easily brighten up any festive autumn dish.

"Refrigerator jam"

Finely chop the feijoa (with a mincer or food processor); there is no need to peel the fruit as the skin has a high vitamin content. Mix the rough puree with equal parts of sugar; for those who like it to be a bit tart, then 1 kg of sugar to 1.5 kg of puree. Put into sterilised jars and keep in the refrigerator. You can also add chopped walnuts or hazelnuts to this jam.

"Feijoa and ginger jam"

Finely chop the feijoa and mix with sugar (20 per cent of the weight of the fruit). Add water and put it on to boil for six hours, skimming off the foam and stirring it from time to time. The jam should simmer on a low heat or even better should be steamed in a pan of water. Try adding freshly grated ginger to the jam. The combination of the piquant ginger and the aromatic feijoa gives an ordinary jam a different taste and depth. The finished jam is best sieved to get rid of the seeds, ginger fibres and other unnecessary things.

"Feijoa sauce"

Feijoa sauce is prepared in the same way, but without sugar being added. To make the sauce piquant, it is best of all to add a little garlic and white or black pepper. This sauce is an especially good accompaniment to meat and poultry dishes.

"Chicken with feijoa"

Remove the chicken from the bones and cut it into small chunks approximately 4 cm x 6 cm. Prepare a marinade from lemon juice, warm water, salt, sugar, spices for chicken and bay leaf. Place the chicken pieces in the marinade and leave for two and a half hours. During that time, peel the feijoa and slice it thinly (approximately 0.3 cm thick). Put the marinated chicken into a deep pan, adding a little marinade and then put the pieces of feijoa on top of the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with finely grated parmesan cheese, add several sprigs of fresh coriander and cover tightly with foil. Bake in the oven at 150 degrees for approximately 50 minutes.