# Tell me about guavas **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917 "2004-05-19T04:14:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/1 "2004-05-19T04:14:56Z")
I just bought a guava from a guy selling produce at a little roadside stand in the Bronx. I’ve never had anything but the juice - what does the fruit look/smell/feel like when it’s ripe? How should I eat it? Can I eat the seeds? New fruit! Yay! ---
**Author:** ![jastu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jastu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jastu)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/2 "2004-05-19T05:31:42Z")
From [this](http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/guava.html) site > [@](#): > > Fruits: Guava fruits may be round, ovoid or pear-shaped, 2 - 4 inches long, and have 4 or 5 protruding floral remnants (sepals) at the apex. Varieties differ widely in flavor and seediness. The better varieties are soft when ripe, creamy in texture with a rind that softens to be fully edible. The flesh may be white, pink, yellow, or red. The sweet, musky odor is pungent and penetrating. The seeds are numerous but small and, in good varieties, fully edible. Actual seed counts have ranged from 112 to 535. The quality of the fruit of guavas grown in cooler areas is often disappointing. From memory I think it would be very difficult not to eat the seeds. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/3 "2004-05-19T14:27:45Z")
> [@jastu](#): > > From memory I think it would be very difficult not to eat the seeds. When fully ripe, you eat the whole thing – just don’t try to chew up the seeds, just swallow them along. For red-fleshed guavas, ripening usually shows with the skin turning yellowish. White-fleshed guavas, OTOH, stay green-colored and just have the skin turn soft and lose its bitterness. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/4 "2004-05-19T15:10:41Z")
Guavas make great jelly. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/5 "2016-02-06T01:45:35Z")
I just bought one of these for the first time for the heck of it. It has green skin and is completely white and hard inside. The texture is almost like jicama. Does this mean I have to let it sit and ripen? or this just what it is? (and yeah, I know about raising the dead. The locked post that linked to this one ranks very high in google for guava, of course) ---
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/6 "2016-02-06T01:52:14Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > just don’t try to chew up the seeds, just swallow them along. What the … are you trying to say? ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/7 "2016-02-06T04:08:05Z")
> [@donkeyoatey](#): > > What the … are you trying to say? If you chew on the guava seeds, they tend to break into sharp little pieces. You can chew the flesh without chewing hard on the seeds and then just swallow them along with the fruit. It’s like how you can tread lightly on pieces of watermelon that have seeds. You can chew the fruit without crushing the seeds. Ripe fruits have a pungent, sweet smell. If you can smell it as soon as you pick it up and the aroma makes you hungry, there you go. Even thick skinned white varieties will be soft-ish when ripe. Think firm, but yielding. It should be more squeezing a ripe orange than an apple. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/8 "2016-02-06T13:39:43Z")
Trivia: Once at [Big Lots](http://www.biglots.com/) (hugely fun discount store that sells discontinued and various oddball items, including groceries), I found guava Pop Tarts. I bought them, and they were great. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/9 "2016-02-06T13:46:07Z")
There is even a video of how to eat them. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/QSJSSs9CeSQ/hqdefault.jpg "How to...Eat Guava") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSJSSs9CeSQ) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/10 "2016-02-06T16:20:03Z")
[They’re not donuts.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sumEU6myrmk) ---
**Author:** ![ashtayk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@ashtayk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashtayk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/11 "2016-02-06T16:26:29Z")
I actually hate the soft ripe ones. I like them crunchy, and the flavor is a little different too. We used to eat them off the tree in India. ---
**Author:** ![BAHAMA\_MAMA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@BAHAMA\_MAMA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BAHAMA_MAMA)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/12 "2016-02-06T19:38:05Z")
I’ve been eating guavas my entire life. As a child I loved to climb guava trees and eat them 'till my stomach ached. There are many varieties - some are small, some get quite large - some are white inside, some are light pink, some darker pink - some have small seeds, some have not so small seeds. You can eat EVERYTHING. Just be careful with the ones that have larger, hard seeds - you might brake a tooth. ---
**Author:** ![BAHAMA\_MAMA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@BAHAMA\_MAMA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BAHAMA_MAMA)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/13 "2016-02-06T19:41:24Z")
About ripening: Depending on the variety, they are ripe when they turn yellow and/or soften slightly. WARNING: If they get too ripe, open with your hands before eating as they often have small white WORMS!!! ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/14 "2016-02-07T00:38:40Z")
In my country we eat it regularly and we rarely eat the seeds. We also prefer them semi ripe. More vitamin c. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-guavas/245917/15 "2016-02-07T15:31:29Z")
Since this is about food, let’s move it to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator