Feijoa, Date & Walnut Loaf

Great for fresh or frozen feijoa pulp, this Feijoa Date & Walnut Loaf is virtually fool proof!

If you have never thought to freeze feijoa before, think again. I have had success in freezing feijoa whole and as scooped out flesh. Here’s a few tips:

When using whole frozen feijoa fruit peel skins with a vegetable peeler while still partially frozen then chop up the remaining flesh for use. If using frozen feijoa pulp (which hopefully you’ve already had the foresight to measure into 1 cup portions) you can cook from frozen or defrost first (but defrosting isn’t really necessary). The pulp will go brown but it’s still very edible and delicious. After all, the whole loaf is brown so aesthetics aren’t important.

Feijoa, Date & Walnut Loaf

Ingredients

• 1 cup feijoa flesh, diced
• 1/2 cup dates, roughly chopped
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup sugar
• 50g butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C . Line a loaf tin with baking paper.
2. Add prepared feijoa flesh (fresh or frozen), dates, boiling water, sugar and butter in a saucepan. Simmer simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Cool fruit mix then stir in vanilla essence and beaten egg.
4. Add walnuts along with the remaining sifted dry ingredients to the cooled fruit mixture, and fold through just enough to combine and moisten the dry ingredients but not over-mix.
5. Spoon batter into a loaf and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.