How to slice a guava

Guava sitting out on a kitchen counter will seduce you into eating it. You can just chomp into it, like you would an apple. But there’s more.

To use guava in a salad, side dish, entree or smoothie. You’ll first want to peel the skin off of the fruit.

Grab a cutting board, a good sized knife and vegetable peeler.

This may not be necessary. But, if you want to scoop the guava’s seeds out get out a grapefruit spoon, ice cream scoop (with pointed end) or melon baller.

Step 1

Cut off guava’s ends with a knife. Cut just enough off to get to guava’s pink insides.

Step 2

Using a veggie peeler, peel enough of the skin off to get to guava’s pink insides.

An easy way to do this is to stand the guava up on one of its ends. Use a downward motion. Then stand the guava up on the other side and remove the skin using the same motion.

Step 3

Holding the peeler sideways and using the table to steady it, peel off the skin around the middle of the guava.

Step 4

Cut the guava in half, making the cut about halfway between the cut-off ends.

The seeds, toss or eat?

Slicing guava?

If you’re slicing raw guava to a salad or dish.  you may want to remove the seeds. To do this, Score around the circumference of the seedy area with a serrated tip scoop or spoon. Then scoop out the seed area.

Guava puree?

If your next step is to make a raw guava puree, throw the guava halves with seeds into the blender or food processor. Pulse until relatively smooth. Test the puree. If you want to extract the seeds, push the puree through a mesh strainer with a spoon.

Cooking guava?

If you’re cooking, baking, poaching or boiling guava, cook first then scoop out the seeds or use a mesh strainer to extract the seeds. If you poach guava for 10 minutes, the seedy centers pop right out.

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