If I had a dollar for every time a customer walked up to my stand here in San Diego, pointed at a basket of small, green, egg-shaped fruits, and asked, “Are these the same as the yellow guavas I had in Hawaii?”, I could probably buy a new tractor. It is easily the most common confusion I encounter in the orchard business. We live in a global marketplace where names get tossed around loosely, and “guava” has become a catch-all term for a specific tropical flavor profile rather than a botanical stricture.
Ever wonder why you can find “Pineapple Guava” growing as a hedge in Northern California, but a true tropical guava would shrivel up and die in the exact same spot?
The short answer is no, Feijoa is absolutely not the same as Guava. While they are distant cousins within the Myrtaceae (Myrtle) family, they are as different as a husky is from a chihuahua. I grow both right here on my plot in San Diego, utilizing our unique microclimates to keep them happy, and I can tell you that everything from their cold tolerance to the way you eat them is distinct. Let’s dig into the dirt and clear up this confusion once and for all.
The Botanical Breakdown: Cousins, Not Twins
To understand what we are looking at, we have to strip away the marketing names. The fruit commonly sold as “Pineapple Guava” or “Guavasteen” is scientifically known as Acca sellowiana (formerly Feijoa sellowiana). It hails from the cool highlands of southern Brazil, Uruguay, and northern Argentina. It is a rugged, drought-tolerant shrub that handles our cool coastal nights with ease.
Here at Exotic Fruits and Vegetables, we’ve found that understanding this origin story is the single most important factor in keeping the plants alive; one craves a sweater weather dormancy, while the other demands a permanent vacation.
Think of the Feijoa as a mountain climber and the True Guava as a beach bum; they might be related, but they hang out in very different environments.
Visual and Textural Differences
When I’m harvesting in late autumn, the visual difference is stark. A Feijoa looks like a small, green grenade about the size of a chicken egg. The skin is matte, slightly bumpy, and covers the fruit in a way that looks almost waxy. The catch is that a Feijoa stays green even when ripe. If you are waiting for it to turn yellow, you will be waiting until it rots.
True Guavas are generally larger, ranging from tennis ball to softball size depending on the variety. As they ripen, their skin transforms from a hard green to a yielding yellow or blush pink, and they emit a fragrance so strong I can smell a ripening basket from 50 feet away. The Feijoa is shy; you have to put your nose right up to the skin to catch that floral, minty perfume.
| Feature | Feijoa (Pineapple Guava) | True Guava (Tropical) |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Acca sellowiana | Psidium guajava |
| Skin Edibility | Sour, tough, usually discarded | Edible, sweet, vitamin-rich |
| Flesh Texture | Jelly-like center, grainy outer flesh (like a pear) | Creamy, smooth, or crunchy depending on ripeness |
| Seed Hardness | Tiny, undetectable, edible | Hard, rock-like, teeth-breaking potential |
| Ripeness Sign | Falls off the tree or gives slightly to pressure | Turns yellow/pink and becomes extremely fragrant |
The Flavor Profile: Mint vs. Musk
This is where the rubber meets the road. I remember handing a slice of Feijoa to a friend who expected the sugary, musky punch of a tropical guava. His face twisted up in confusion because he wasn’t prepared for the tang. Feijoa tastes like a complex mix of pineapple, strawberry, and wintergreen mint. The texture near the skin is gritty, caused by sclereids (stone cells), exactly like you find in a pear.
Feijoa is the sophisticated, floral introverted flavor, while Guava is the loud, sweet, musky extrovert of the fruit world.
True Guava is creamy and intensely sweet with a musky undertone that some people compare to papaya or banana. It lacks that sharp, acidic bite that defines the Feijoa. If you are making a smoothie, Guava provides body and sugar; Feijoa provides zest and complexity.
Growing in the Dirt: A Farmer’s Perspective
In San Diego, we are blessed with a climate that can technically support both, but the care regimen is radically different. I have Feijoa bushes planted as windbreaks on the north side of my property. They take a beating. They handle temperatures down to 12°F without blinking. In fact, our experience at Exotic Fruits and Vegetables has shown that Feijoas actually produce sweeter fruit after suffering through 50 to 100 chill hours (temperatures between 32°F and 45°F).
Never plant a True Guava in a low-lying frost pocket; a single night below 27°F can kill a three-year-old tree down to the rootstock.
I learned this the hard way. In 2013, we had a freak cold snap where temperatures on my farm hit 26°F for four hours. The next morning, my Feijoas looked perfectly happy, their grey-green leaves shimmering in the sun. My grove of ‘Barbie Pink’ Guavas, however, looked like someone had taken a flamethrower to them. The leaves were black and crispy. I lost 60% of that crop and had to prune the trees back to 2-foot stumps to save them.
Watering and Soil Needs
Feijoas are tough survivors. Once established, I water them deeply—about 5 gallons per plant—every two weeks during the summer. They handle our native alkaline clay soil surprisingly well. True Guavas are divas by comparison. They need consistent moisture to produce large fruit. I have to put them on a drip line that delivers 2 gallons every 3 days during the heat of July and August. If I miss a week, the fruit drops prematurely or stays rock hard.
The biggest operational difference is that Feijoa is a seasonal crop that ripens all at once in late autumn, while True Guava can produce fruit nearly year-round in San Diego if the weather holds.
How to Eat Them: Don’t Break a Tooth
The culinary approach to these fruits is distinct because of their physical structure. With a True Guava, you can often just bite into it like an apple, provided you are careful with the seeds. The seeds in a tropical guava are notoriously hard. I tell people to swallow them whole or chew very gently. With Feijoa, the skin is technically edible but is often too sour and bitter for most palates.
The best way to eat a Feijoa is to cut it in half transversely and scoop out the gelatinous center with a teaspoon, using the skin as a natural bowl.
Here is my personal workflow for processing Feijoas when we have a bumper crop of 500+ pounds:
- The Squeeze Test: Gently squeeze the fruit. If it feels like a tennis ball, it’s unripe. If it feels like a ripe avocado, it is ready to eat immediately.
- The Cut: Slice the fruit in half across the middle (equator), not stem to blossom.
- The Scoop: Use a sharp-edged spoon to remove the inner clear jelly and the opaque granular flesh surrounding it.
- The Acid Bath: Drop the scooped flesh immediately into a bowl of water with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to prevent browning (oxidation).
For True Guavas, the process focuses on the aroma. You want to eat them when the room smells like a juice bar. Our team at Exotic Fruits and Vegetables loves making a raw guava puree, but we always pass it through a fine mesh sieve. Why? To remove those rock-hard seeds that can ruin a blender blade—or a molar.
Varieties You Should Know
If you decide to plant these, do not just buy a generic “guava” from a big-box store. You will likely end up with a seedling that takes 8 years to fruit. Here are the specific cultivars that perform exceptionally well in Southern California:
- Feijoa ‘Nazemetz’: This is the gold standard for California. It has large, egg-shaped fruit with a sweet, non-gritty pulp. It resists browning better than other varieties.
- Feijoa ‘Coolidge’: The workhorse. It is 100% self-fertile, meaning you only need one bush to get fruit. Great for small backyards.
- Guava ‘Tropic White’: A Mexican cream variety. It has creamy white flesh, relatively soft seeds, and a high sugar content. It survives our winters better than the pink types.
- Guava ‘Ruby X’: A hybrid with bright pink flesh. It is incredibly tasty but needs a protected, south-facing wall to thrive.
I once grafted a ‘Nazemetz’ branch onto an unknown wild seedling feijoa, and within two years, that single branch was out-producing the rest of the massive bush combined.
The Verdict
So, is Feijoa the same as Guava? Absolutely not. They share a family name and a general shape, but that is where the similarity ends. One is a cool-weather lover with a complex, tangy-mint flavor profile perfect for fresh eating on a crisp autumn day. The other is a heat-seeking tropical bomb of sugar and musk that defines summer flavor.
Do not substitute Feijoa for Guava in recipes 1:1; the acidity in Feijoa will curdle dairy products instantly, whereas True Guava blends smoothly with cream.
If you are gardening in San Diego, Feijoa is the safe, reliable bet that will fruit every year with minimal effort, while True Guava is the high-reward risk that requires a dedicated microclimate. I grow both because I refuse to choose between my children, but if you have a shady spot or a frost-prone valley floor, stick with the Feijoa. Your tastebuds—and your patience—will thank you.
