The Many Charms of Guava

If your only familiarity with guava fruit is its use as a jelly, you need to put that out of your mind. At least that’s the advice of Brooks Tropicals, which recently published suggestions for better ways to appreciate the fruit. Here are some of the highlights:
• Add sliced guava to a meal by including it in a fruit or green salad.
• Make a sauce to brush on an entrée or vegetable.
• Use on bread by blending it into the batter or spreading it on.
• Incorporate guava in a dessert.
• Make a guava dip for shrimp cocktail.
• Eat the small seeds, which contain many of the nutrients found in the fruit. They are small enough to leave in a smoothie.
• Consumers who don’t want the seeds can just scoop them out of the center of a fruit sliced in half. And poaching for 10 minutes makes seeds just pop out.
• Guava should be ripened at room temperature. The fruit is ready when it’s slightly soft to the touch.
• The fruit is a good source of Vitamins A and C, as well as fiber. And guavas contain more potassium than bananas.
• The lycopene which is responsible for the fruit’s red color is a significant antioxidant.
For more detail about guava, including recipes, please see http://www.brookstropicals.com/red_guava/index.php
Richard Lyons’ Nursery stocks guava plants in 3-gal. containers.