How to tell if guava is ripe? Some people might find it hard to recognize the ripeness of this fruit due to its hard texture. So what are the ripening signs, or what can you do to fasten ripening time?
Do not worry; this post will give you more knowledge about guava and how to eat it, aside from its health benefits, uses, origin, etc. Let’s immerse yourselves in this rich vitamin C fruit.
Guava 101: What Is Guava?
Guava is a well-known edible fruit all over the world, especially in tropical countries. A small fun fact: guava comes in various kinds, and each variety may slightly differ from others in terms of taste, appearance, etc.
Guava is a small tree of the Myrtaceae family, and guava grows natively in tropical America. However, because it is a delicious edible fruit, people widely cultivate guava in tropical and subtropical areas all over the world.
Guava features some easy-to-realize characteristics, such as the oval to long leaves, the four-petaled white flowers, and the pear-shaped fruits. In addition, The flesh is the most nutrient part of guava, which can be off-white or pink.
Like I’ve said above, different types of guava won’t taste similar. But overall, people often describe the unique flavor of guava as sweet or slightly bitter.
Depending on the variety, some guava skins can be thick and usually feature a green color when unripe, which will change to yellow or yellowish-green when it reaches maturity (1).
Do you want to grow your own guava tree in the back garden?
What To Know When Guava Is Ripe!
The smell, color, and texture of your guava are the most significant factors in knowing if your guava is ripe. So check for any change in terms of these characteristics to find out whether your fruits are ready to consume.
Your Guava Change The Color
Guava’s variety may directly influence the colors when it matures. In this part, I will show you some typical indications so you may know the golden time to pick it.
The noticeable sign is that your guava color changed from dark green to a light yellow-green color. Sometimes, you also see the light pink color on its skin when ripe.
However, if you go to the supermarket and do not find any guava in that color, you can buy a green one. Do not worry! You can wait a few days until ripe. So keep reading this post since I also provide some tips to speed up ripening time in the below part.
Your Guava Has An Appealing Smell
It is obvious that your guava will release a pleasing smell when ripe. Depending on the aroma, you also know the ripening stages. The stronger the smell is, the riper your fruit is.
You can sense a sweet, fruity, and floral scent from mature guava. And sometimes, you do not even need to put it near your nose to enjoy the aroma since guava’s aroma can get stronger when ripe.
In contrast, the unripe guavas do not have a strong and appealing smell like the ripe ones.
Your Guava Features A Soft Texture
In addition to the color and smell, guava texture is also one of the most significant factors that shows the golden time of guava. There are two main ways to check.
You can check your guava by hand and give it a gentle squeeze. If your guava has a soft texture, this means your fruit is ready to enjoy. Moreover, the softer your guava is, the sweeter it features.
You can learn more about picking mature guava here.
You Can Speed Up The Guava Ripening Time Too!
Suppose that you are going to hold a party in your home in the next few days, and you wanna make some side dishes from guava. However, your guava is unripe at the moment. What should you do? Stay tuned. I will show you some tricks.
1. Put Your Fruit In A Bag With Banana And Apple
Maybe it is the easiest way to speed up your guava ripening time since you need only some simple containers and fruits. See what you need to do with them.
You may let your guava be ripe at room temperature in your own home and they will slowly mature. Or put the unripe guava and a banana or an apple into a paper bag; this will speed up the guava ripening time.
You should monitor your guava more often since this method significantly fastens its ripening time. In addition, be careful with the fruit flies since they lay eggs on your ripened fruits which can lead to some illnesses.
2. Do Not Forget To Rinse Your Guava
You have tried the above method, but your guava still maintains the green color and hard texture. So please remember this important note.
Sellers might cover guava with edible wax that may prevent the ripening process during transportation. So, the best advice for you is to rinse them carefully in advance.
What You Should Do To Store Your Guava
Learning to store guava will help prolong your favorite guavas’ shelf life. And this process is not difficult with the assistance of various cooking housewares. Let’s learn more about how to store your guava here.
1. Unripe to Semi-Ripe Guava
Sometimes, the guava you buy at the supermarket is unripe or semi-ripe. And you want to store them for the upcoming family gathering. I will help you with this:
With the unripe or semi-ripe guava, people often store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. This can keep your guava for no longer than 7 days since your guava still ripens in your refrigerator conditions.
To keep them for a longer time, you should cut guava into wedges, then use a plastic bag to wrap and then freeze your guava wedges. They can last about 8 months at this temperature.
2. Ripe Guava
You bought a lot of guavas 3 days ago, and now they are becoming ripe simultaneously, and you found it is hard to store the ripe guavas.
Unfortunately, with the ripe guava, they will be more likely to go bad. You only keep them for about 2 to 4 days. If you do want to use them for a long time, I also have an amazing idea for you.
You need to cut them into wedges or thin oval shapes. Finally, you should dip them in a combination of 2 parts sugar and 1 part water. This method can keep your guava edible for about 8 months in the freezer.
You ought to freeze your guava slices to keep them for a longer time.
Maybe You Don’t Know How To Eat Guava
There are numerous ways for you to enjoy this rich source of vitamin C. Maybe you love to eat a whole raw guava, maybe you want to peel the skins and cut them into wedges. So here are some notes to consume them properly and safely.
First and foremost, I recommend washing your guava under running water to remove dirt and pesticide from its skins. Remember that you can eat the guava rind and seeds since they even contain more vitamin C than an orange. And now, you can enjoy them fresh.
You can also halve your guava, then peel its skin. After that, it is optional to slice your flesh and enjoy them. However, some guavas have pink or white flesh that has hard-to-eat seeds, so you can use your finger or a knife to remove them.
Some Sweet Recipes With Guava That You Will Love
Now, you know when is the golden time for the guava to ripen. After this period, you can finally make various appetizing dishes with sweet guavas. Here are some recommendations for you.
1. Coconut Guava Thumbprint Cookies
In only 20 minutes, you can make more than 30 delicious coconut guava thumbprint cookies for your family members. The combination of butter, eggs, cream, milk, coconut chip, and guava jam will please every guava lover.
2. Fresh Guava Juice
Have you ever tried this fresh guava juice before? You should add this fresh, juicy, healthy smoothie to your menu since it has easy-to-make instructions. You can also replace your glass of orange juice in the morning with this fresh guava juice.
3. Islander Immunity Blend
Surprisingly, you need only 4 simple ingredients to make this islander immunity blend, which are guavas, fresh strawberries, chia seeds, and unsweetened coconut milk.
In spite of the simple ingredients, this smoothie also contains an enormous amount of vitamins and super tasty.
4. Trini Guava Cheese
When the guava season is coming, nothing is better than a delicious tri guava cheese. You only have to spend 15 minutes on the preparation and 30 minutes on the cooking time. Finally, the result is a mouth-watering, nutritious side dish.
Your children will love this guava cheese very much, I promise.
What Are Health Benefits Of Eating Guava?
After reading this section, you might want to eat more guava since its health benefits are numerous. Here are some highlights regarding what this fruit can bring to your body.
1. Control Blood Sugar Level
You consume guava in your meals which means you control your sugar level. Since guava contains a large amount of fiber, it will take a lot of time for fiber to digest. Therefore, this ensures that the blood sugar will not quickly come into the bloodstream.
In addition, obesity may also result in high blood sugar. However, your guava does not contain many calories since you can find only about 68 calories in 100 grams of guava. After meals, people also use guava leaf tea to decrease their blood sugar.
2. Improve Health Heart
The amount of potassium and soluble fiber in your guava positively helps your heart health. As a result, they reduce the blood pressure and inflammation in your body because they can also prevent cholesterol levels from increasing.
Not only the fruits but also the leaves support you with your heart health. Since LDL cholesterol and blood pressure are the beginning source of many heart diseases, however, you can get several benefits from guava leaf extract to protect your heart.
3. Support Digestive System
In addition to heart health, guava also strongly supports your digestive system as guavas contain a great amount of fiber. However, be cautious about consuming guava seeds because they can lead to constipation.
4. Have Anticancer Effect
Antioxidants in guava can successfully prevent the free radicals from damaging your body cell. Therefore, they will continue to maintain their main functions and not be likely to result in cancer diseases.
People also use guava leaves to decrease their cancer problems. In fact, the guava leaves extract positively influences your cancers because this extract can reduce the growth of cancers.
5. Increase Immunity System
As you know, there is an enormous amount of vitamin C in your guava, and it is about twice the amount of vitamin C as oranges. Therefore, it treats your cold and cough and improves your immunity system.
In addition, with the antimicrobials, consuming guava can protect you from various bacteria and viruses. This will help to avoid infections and diseases (2).
Adverse Effect
Though your guava features numerous benefits for human health, it still has some adverse effects you should consider.
Since your guava contains 9 grams of natural sugar, you should use them reasonably, do not overuse them. This can lead to a high blood sugar level. In addition, you should not use guava at night because you may get a cold and cough.
The best time to consume this wonderful fruit is after our daily meal. You can use them as desserts.
FAQs
Do you fully understand this vitamin C source? Here are some more frequently asked questions that I believe are also necessary for you.
Now You Are All Set To Pick And Consume The Best-Quality Guavas!
With an appealing flavor and useful health benefits, I strongly believe you will love guava and be willing to put it in your kitchen refrigerator. In addition, you can also make more delicious recipes with this versatile fruit.
You can share your experiences with guava via the comments below since I would love to listen to all your stories about guava. Finally, let’s share this informative post with all your friends and family. Thank you!
References
- En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Guava – Wikipedia.
- Plantfacts.org. 2022.
