WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The unofficial national fruit of New Zealand isn’t native to the country – it’s South American. It isn’t exclusively found in New Zealand. And it’s not, perhaps surprisingly, the kiwi. It’s the feijoa.
Known as pineapple guava elsewhere, the fruit — a green perfumed oval with a polarizing taste — can be purchased in California or Canberra. Yet no country has embraced the feijoa with quite the fervor or the fixation of New Zealanders.
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A box outside a house offering free feijoas is seen in Wellington, New Zealand, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
Feijoas offered for free in a box are seen outside a house in Wellington, New Zealand, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
A man rakes feijoas from the roof of his shed in Wellington, New Zealand, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
A feijoa hangs from a backyard tree in Wellington, New Zealand, on Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
Feijoas is seen outside a house in Wellington, New Zealand, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
Due to its short shelf life, New Zealand — a nation of thriving fruit exports — has never been able to spin the feijoa (pronounced fee-jo-ah) into a global brand, as growers have done with apples and kiwi. But during the brief span of weeks each year when the fruit is ripe, the country goes feijoa wild.
The feijoa’s allure comes partly from how it’s acquired. In autumn, fallen fruit forms fragrant carpets beneath backyard trees and is swept into boxes, bags and buckets to be offered for free outside homes, in office breakrooms and on neighborhood Facebook groups. There's such abundance that some feijoa lovers take pride in never having paid for one.
“It’s sort of non-commercialized. We turn up our noses at the idea of buying them in the shop,” said Kate Evans, author of the book Feijoa: A Story of Obsession and Belonging. “You just sort of expect to get them for free.”
In suburban Wellington, Diana Ward-Pickering said she had given away “thousands” of feijoas from her five backyard trees this season: in a box on the sidewalk, to neighbors, to coworkers, to her daughter’s eyelash technician — in short, to any friend or stranger who wanted some.
On a recent Sunday, Ward-Pickering selected a feijoa from dozens on the ground, halved it with a spoon, and scooped the pale, creamy flesh into her mouth.
“Delicious,” she said. But while she could eat a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of the fruit in a sitting, she said, even her appetite couldn't keep up with the sudden and generous bounty that arrives each April.
“There are people who can’t afford to pay for them,” Ward-Pickering said. “We happily give them away.”
Not everyone’s an enthusiast, and every New Zealander has an opinion. What devotees of the fruit savor as a distinctive texture, flavor and smell, is gritty, soapy or sour to others.
Diana Ward-Pickering’s daughter, Lizzy, gingerly slurped a piece of feijoa into her mouth and grimaced.
“It’s giving snot,” she said. “My mind has not changed.”
But for New Zealanders abroad who love the fruit, feijoas are a nostalgic taste evocative of a kiwi childhood. Evans, who admitted to once paying 3 Australian dollars ($1.90) for a single feijoa at a market in Australia, said that in 12 years living overseas she often saw expatriates asking the same question online: Where can I find feijoas?
How a fruit that hails from the Brazilian highlands, Uruguay and a corner of Argentina first came to New Zealand remains something of a mystery, Evans said. But what’s known is that feijoas have been in New Zealand for just over 100 years, probably originating from California, via Australia.
The trees grow “extremely well” in New Zealand, growers say, due to the soil, subtropical climate and relative lack of destructive insect species.
In spite of New Zealand’s booming backyard feijoa economy there’s still demand for them in stores, where they are currently sold for about 9 to 10 New Zealand dollars ($5-6) per kilogram. There are about 100 commercial feijoa growers in New Zealand almost solely supplying the domestic market, including for popular beverages such as feijoa cider, kombucha and juice.
But exporting the fruit is “tricky,” said Brent Fuller, spokesperson for the New Zealand Feijoa Growers Association. “They’ll keep in the chiller for two or three weeks, but that’s about it.”
Research is underway to increase the shelf life of the fruit. But with the name feijoa still unknown abroad, it remains for now an institution of New Zealand's autumn.
“It’s something that kind of bonds us and gives us an excuse to talk to people around us,” Evans said. The kiwi, she added, has been a lucrative export for New Zealand.
“But we don’t love it the way that we love feijoas.”
A box outside a house offering free feijoas is seen in Wellington, New Zealand, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
Feijoas offered for free in a box are seen outside a house in Wellington, New Zealand, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
A man rakes feijoas from the roof of his shed in Wellington, New Zealand, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
A feijoa hangs from a backyard tree in Wellington, New Zealand, on Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
Feijoas is seen outside a house in Wellington, New Zealand, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
DETROIT (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers survived a wild finish, pushing Detroit to the brink of playoff elimination and boosting their chances of winning their division for the first time in five years.
Pittsburgh held on for 29-24 win over the Lions on Sunday when Jared Goff’s touchdown on the final play was negated by an offensive pass-interference penalty on Amon-Ra St. Brown.
“It’s been playoff-type football for us the last three weeks,” Aaron Rodgers said.
The Steelers (9-6) have won three straight after a midseason slump, surging into the AFC North lead with two games remaining.
“I’m just so appreciative of the men that I work with and the fight they displayed individually and collectively,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “Certainly weren’t perfect, a lot of adversity, some of it created by us. But they didn't blink and that’s what’s required this time of year.”
In a couple of weeks, the Lions will likely have a chance to sleep in because their season probably be over.
They almost pulled off an amazing comeback after trailing by 12 points with four-plus minutes left, but they had two touchdowns negated by penalties in the final minute.
On the last play of the game, Goff threw a fourth-down pass to St. Brown just short of the goal line. The receiver pushed off cornerback Jalen Ramsey to get free, and before the Steelers could bring St. Brown to the ground, he threw a lateral to the quarterback to set up an apparent score by Goff.
Officials huddled for a couple of minutes on the field before announcing the decision to the dismay of the crowd.
With 22 seconds left, rookie Isaac TeSlaa was called for pass interference for setting a pick that freed up St. Brown, negating Goff's 1-yard TD pass.
“That's a bad call,” Goff said.
Detroit (8-7) dropped two straight games for the first time in more than three years, ending its outside shot to win a third straight NFC North title. While the Lions haven’t been eliminated from the playoffs, they have an 8% chance of earning a spot, according to the NFL.
“We know the percentages,” said Goff, who threw two of his three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. “We know we’re not eliminated. We know some things need to go our way.”
The running game certainly didn't go Detroit's way on Sunday.
Jaylen Warren had two 45-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter and finished with a career-high 143 yards for the Steelers, who had a 230-15 advantage in rushing yards.
Detroit’s defense, which allowed Pittsburgh to gain a season-high 481 yards, forced the Steelers to settle for a 37-yard field-goal try with 2:05 left, and Chris Boswell missed it.
The Lions had a fourth-and-2 from their 35 and Pittsburgh was called for pass interference and tripping on consecutive plays, moving the ball to the Steelers 35 and setting up the wild finish.
Rodgers finished 27 of 41 for 266 yards. He threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Kenneth Gainwell to close the first half that was initially ruled incomplete, then changed to a TD after a review. Gainwell made the catch while lying on his left side and got his right arm under the ball, then popped to his feet and scampered to the end zone.
Goff was sacked by blitzing Kyle Dugger for a safety to give the Steelers a 12-10 lead in the third quarter.
Pittsburgh converted a pair of fourth downs on the ensuing drive and elected not to go for it a third time from the Lions 5, settling for a field goal and a five-point lead after a 17-play, 64-yard drive that took nearly 10 minutes.
The Steelers went ahead 3-0 when Boswell capped their first possession with a 59-yard field goal.
The Lions could have tied the game on the ensuing possession, but coach Dan Campbell went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 3 and Goff’s pass to St. Brown in the end zone was broken up by Joey Porter Jr.
Did Campbell regret that decision after seeing that a field goal in the end would have won the game?
“No,” he said without elaborating.
Steelers receiver DK Metcalf swiped at a fan leaning over the railing in the front row during the second quarter.
Metcalf and the fan, wearing a black-and-blue shirt and a blue wig, were speaking to each other before the two-time Pro Bowler threw a right hand toward the man’s face. Metcalf did not appear to make much, if any contact.
Although game officials didn't penalize Metcalf, the league will review the incident and he could face discipline.
Pittsburgh secured its 22nd straight season with at least a .500 record, breaking the NFL record it previously shared with the Dallas Cowboys, who had a 21-year run without a losing season from 1965-85. Tomlin has finished at .500 or better in each of his 19 seasons.
Steelers: CB Brandin Echols (groin) left the game in the second quarter. ... Two starters were inactive — OLB T.J. Watt (lung) and OG Isaac Seumalo (triceps) — along with reserve OLB Nick Herbig (hamstring).
Lions: C Graham Glasgow (knee) and C Trystan Colon (wrist) were inactive, giving 24-year-old Kingsley Eguakun his first start after he played in two games sparingly in September, and G Kayode Awosika (foot) missed his third straight game.
Steelers: At Cleveland next Sunday.
Lions: At Minnesota on Christmas Day.
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Detroit Lions' Jared Goff passes during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)
Pittsburgh Steelers' Aaron Rodgers passes during the first half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell talks with officials after the final play of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Detroit Lions' Jared Goff (16) waits for a call on the final play of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Pittsburgh Steelers' Asante Samuel Jr. (22) Joey Porter Jr. (24) and Jalen Ramsey (5) celebrate after Pittsburgh won an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
