The first guavas of the season are starting to appear in the stalls behind Canino's. Guayaba is the Spanish word for guava. The fruit is native to North America, and the word derives from the Arawak tribe of the Caribbean, who called a guava tree a "guayabo." The green-skinned, white-fleshed kind they are selling now at the produce stalls are called apple guavas. The more exotic red guavas and strawberry guavas are more highly prized.
I bought a dollar's worth, which amounted to six guavas. I got some nice soft ones so I could eat them out of hand. They taste sort of like seedy pears. Guavas are incredibly good for you; in fact, they are classified as a superfruits. One guava has four times the amount of vitamin C in an orange. They also contain vitamin A, omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, potassium, magnesium, and -- if you eat the seeds -- lots of fiber.
