Feijoa substitute

Best substitute

Ripe Pear plus Crushed Pineapple

Use 2 parts pear to 1 part drained crushed pineapple, plus 1 tsp lime juice for every cup, replacing feijoa 1:1

Best for feijoa loaf and muffins

Close match

Peel and dice a soft ripe pear, ideally Bartlett or Beurre Bosc, and mix with well-drained canned crushed pineapple and lime juice. Use it exactly where the scooped feijoa flesh would have gone.

Other feijoa substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Guava (fresh, frozen pulp or canned)
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Feijoa is in the same family as true guava and shares a lot of its aroma.
What changes
Use ripe pink or white guava with the hard seeds strained out, frozen guava pulp thawed, or canned guava halves drained and chopped.
Best for
chutney, jam and jelly, baking, sorbet and ice cream, drinks
The closest single fruit on aroma, and in a cooked or blended dish it is very convincing. Guava is sweeter, more strongly perfumed and pinker, so a jam will come out a rosy colour instead of pale green-cream, and you may want to hold back a little sugar. Canned guava in syrup is already sweetened, so reduce the recipe sugar by about a third.
3Pineapple
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, drained if canned
The single most available option, and the one that carries the flavour note most people actually associate with feijoa, which is why the fruit is sold as pineapple guava in the first place.
What changes
Best for
feijoa loaf and muffins, chutney, crumble, smoothies, salsa
Sharper, wetter and much more acidic than feijoa, and it has none of the soft grainy body, so a loaf made with pineapple alone can turn out slightly gummy. Drain it hard, chop it fine, and if you have one, mash in half a ripe pear or banana to bring back the softness. Fresh pineapple contains an enzyme that stops gelatine setting, so use canned in a jelly or panna cotta.
4Kiwifruit plus Pear
Different taste
1 part kiwifruit to 1 part pear, 1:1 for feijoa
A good option if you are cooking in New Zealand or Australia out of feijoa season, since both fruits are cheap and available.
What changes
Peel the kiwifruit and dice it fine with the pear.
Best for
fruit salad, crumble, smoothies, yoghurt bowls, chutney
The colour and the small dark seeds actually look quite like feijoa flesh, and kiwifruit brings a comparable green tartness. The flavour is more sour and grassy and less perfumed, so add a teaspoon of honey per cup. Fresh kiwifruit also contains an enzyme that breaks down gelatine and turns dairy bitter after a while, so use it in things you eat the same day.
5Quince, Cooked
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, cooked until tender first
The right choice for a feijoa chutney or a preserve where you need something perfumed that holds up to long cooking.
What changes
Peel, core and simmer the quince until soft before it joins the recipe, because raw quince is hard and astringent.
Best for
feijoa chutney, jam and paste, poached fruit, relish for cheese
Strongly floral and honey-scented, which is the one quality it shares with feijoa, but it is much firmer, far less juicy and needs a good 20 to 30 minutes of cooking before it softens. It also turns pink as it cooks. Choose it for chutney and paste, not for a quick loaf.
6Apple plus Pineapple Juice
Different taste
Use 1 cup grated apple plus 2 tbsp pineapple juice for every cup of feijoa
The bare-cupboard version for a loaf or muffins.
What changes
Grate a soft eating apple such as Braeburn or Royal Gala, squeeze out a little of the liquid, and stir the pineapple juice through it.
Best for
feijoa loaf and muffins, cake, crumble, porridge
Honest assessment: this keeps the cake moist and pleasant but it will not taste of feijoa. Apple is mild and one-note where feijoa is loud and perfumed. If you have any of these on hand, a quarter teaspoon of vanilla or a small splash of elderflower cordial per cup pushes it noticeably closer to the floral character you are missing.

What is Feijoa?

Feijoa is a small green egg-shaped fruit with soft, grainy, cream-coloured flesh that tastes like pineapple, pear and mint at once and carries a strong floral perfume, sold as pineapple guava or guavasteen and known botanically as Acca sellowiana.

Cooking tips

Scoop, do not peel. Halve the feijoa and spoon the flesh out with a teaspoon like a kiwifruit, because the skin is edible but bitter and gritty and will make a loaf taste tannic. If the fruit is very ripe the flesh comes out almost as a jelly.
Feijoa flesh browns within minutes of being exposed to air. Toss it with lemon or lime juice if it is going into a salad or on top of a pavlova, or scoop it straight into the mixing bowl if it is going into batter.
Because the season is short, scoop the flesh into freezer bags in one-cup portions while the fruit is cheap. Frozen feijoa pulp is excellent for loaves, chutney and jam for the rest of the year, and the mushiness that develops does not matter in any cooked recipe.
Ripeness is everything with this fruit. A ripe feijoa smells strongly through its skin and the flesh is translucent and jelly-like in the centre; underripe fruit is opaque, crunchy and unpleasantly astringent, and no amount of sugar fixes it. Windfall fruit that drops on its own is usually perfectly ripe.
Feijoa is quite acidic, so a loaf or muffin batter made with a lot of pulp will react with baking soda faster than you expect. Get it into the oven promptly rather than letting the batter sit on the bench.

Frequently asked questions

What is the closest fruit to feijoa?

Guava is the closest botanical and aromatic relative, and it swaps one for one in chutney, jam and baking. If you cannot get guava, pineapple is the closest flavour and ripe pear is the closest texture, which is why a blend of two parts pear to one part pineapple beats either one on its own.

Can I use feijoa jam instead of fresh feijoa in a loaf?

Not directly, because jam is mostly sugar and will make the loaf sweet and heavy. If it is all you have, use about half a cup of jam in place of a cup of fresh pulp, cut the sugar in the recipe by a third, and add a couple of tablespoons of grated apple or pear to restore the bulk and moisture the fresh fruit would have provided.

Can I just leave the feijoa out?

Not in a feijoa loaf, crumble or chutney, where it is the main event and provides most of the moisture as well as the flavour. In a mixed fruit salad or smoothie you can leave it out and increase the other fruit, but add a squeeze of lime, because feijoa is contributing a good deal of acidity as well as perfume.

Is pineapple guava the same as feijoa?

Yes. Feijoa, pineapple guava, guavasteen and Acca sellowiana all refer to the same fruit; the older botanical name Feijoa sellowiana is where the common name comes from. It is not the same as true guava, which is a different genus with a pink or white interior, softer skin and a stronger perfume.

How much feijoa is in a cup?

Roughly six to eight medium feijoas give you a cup of scooped flesh, though very small backyard fruit can take a dozen. If a recipe calls for a number of fruit rather than a volume, assume about two tablespoons of pulp per medium feijoa when you are working out how much substitute to use.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Feijoa substitute

Other feijoa substitutes

2Guava (fresh, frozen pulp or canned)

3Pineapple

4Kiwifruit plus Pear

5Quince, Cooked

6Apple plus Pineapple Juice