yes the small green/yellow ones are especially good
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Guava/Bala is a really nice fruit, itâs great that itâs getting some attention abroad. For any fellow foreigner new to Taiwan, if you wish to try the best Guava and your Chinese is not up to par, feel free to go to your local veggie/fruit store and ask for this:
Showing this picture to the store owner will be more than enough, and youâll be able to enjoy some delicious fruit. Its flavor may take a bit to get used to, but itâs fantastic.
Enjoy!
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Theyâre expensive, like 90NTD for a small one⊠must be the health food premium.
So far, I think Iâve only tasted one kind of mangos in Indonesia that I can definitively say it tastes better than mangos in Taiwan, due to itâs fragrant aroma. However, those types of mangos seems to be rare even in Indonesia.
We stayed at a resort in Bali in 2004. All of the fruit was amazing. The mangos were creamy, sweet, and with an earthy spiciness at the same time. My wife (my g/f at the time) is Taiwanese and she actually said very complimentary things about them. Thatâs rare for her; usually Taiwan is the king of all foods not Italian (she has a thing for Italy). The coffee at breakfast was amazing, too.
We were up in the mountains around Neiwan early this summer. At a roadside stand an older couple were selling some kind of peppercorn theyâd grown and dried themselves. They were something else, maybe the most complex flavor Iâve ever experienced (I bought a small 10g baggie filled with them). Anyway, it was familiar-ish to me when I smelled it. Finally put my finger on it: the mangos in Bali had had a very slight, very similar undercurrent of peppery spice.
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Seems likely - at least based on this description. The berries I bought were nearly jet black and had a slight sheen, and could not be ground but could easily be crushed. The flavor is amazing.
Never heard of maqaw until now, thanks. 
Attempts to promote the cuisine of Taiwanâs Aboriginal communities has seen much made of maqaw, which has a flavor that combines elements of pepper, lemongrass, thyme, ginger and citrus oils. As a fresh berry, it can be crushed and used in herbal tea infusions, but for use in the kitchen it is generally dried and looks very similar to black pepper, though the dried berries are softer and cannot be ground in the manner of pepper. Crushing the berries before use is recommended to bring out the flavor.
Litsea cubeba and other litsea species here should have a lemony aroma. We are also in the works of developing this group in taiwan as there is massive variation in aroma profiles. Taiwan has a dozen or so species and often times the stuff the aboriginals pick isnt always litsea cubeba.
Note that most of the essential oil commercially bought is from china and uses the leaves more than the green fruit. Very lovely smell!
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Yes, the smell is almost as complex as the flavor. Not surprising that itâs featured in aromatherapy. The packet I bought could be described as citrus-y, possibly lemony (I guess).
The flavor of the individual berries is even more complex, though. I agree with the taipeitimes.com article I linked to. I too have not had much luck getting that flavor into things I cook with it.
Iâm going to try it with seafood and infused with mayonnaise. Itâs really something special, I think.
Like the Avocado thread, Guavas are Not native to Taiwan or Asia (itâs Mexican Guava - Wikipedia ), so itâs easier to grow in place like Mexico, which is near the United States. Taiwan would be better offer marketing to Japan or more area nations than shipping to the States and having to underprice Mexican/Latin American fruits (which are also just as good tasting). Transport costs would eat up a lot the Taiwanese farmers profit. (Air vs Surface/ Lorry) Guava are not known to be from Taiwan, just think Guava Island Movie (film from Japanese director) Guava Island - Wikipedia
or
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Yes that it is quite true, but nit quite that simple.
Trust there are groups here working very hard to promote local native apecies of food (not just fruit). We are working to commercializing many native species ourselves, but this takes years.
Taiwan has an incredibly diverse plant base as you likely know about. There are some very interesting fruits here but we are certainly far behind other nations as far as table fruit potential. Hot spots like mexici, brazil, borneo central/west africa etc. Nearly all of our domestic table fruits (and fruits that are called vegetables) are foreign. Many locals even believe that due to taiwan growing them so well they are âtaiwanese fruitsâ. Get a lot of raised eye brows talking with folks about this. Annona is south american, roselle is arrican/west asian, mango is probably indian region etc. Many things they actualy believe are local but are not. There are some local fruits that are interesting and have great potential in the future but economics doesnt work solely on future prospects. We all know the situation with the government and their âstyleâ. But they still want to focus on export because it brings in cash. If you saw the prices the government here gives local farmers you would want to start supporting farmers directly. Ironically, that is the trend now for almost that reason.
But things are rolling more serious now as far as developing local things. In the 15 years i have been doing this with taiwanese species it has never been so motivational and fast. Why? Because the customers and culture now support it. And if it can financially support itself, it will be very fast in taiwan. There was little to no support before. In fact if you didnt have company backing or a university, you would of mostly been laughed and guilted into doing something else, so it remained small personal passion projects for a long time. But the japanese planted a deep seed of botanical .passion in taiwan and the psuedo cultural revolution here in recent years is allowing these things to flourish. Great times.
It might be fun for some people to look at what certain common plant food looked like riginally compared to now. Then apply that drastic difference next time you are in a garden, park or hiking and notice a plant that looks neat but too small, spiny or stinky. Corn, enoki mushrooms, pineapples are good examples but the list is endless.
Canât agree. Take oranges for example, thereâs a great range in Taiwan (need to eat them in each season ) and none are as sweet as a Florida orange.
I donât see how guava are sweet personally donât think they are either. You can get the heirloom tu bala ones those taste almost like eating sand but in a good way. 
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Yes, the guava here arenât as sweet as other fruits, but they seem to be getting sweeter. And whatâs the most consistent advertising slogan at fruit stands? ć€ȘçäșïŒ
Taiwan develops for $ not for quality. Size, harvesting, storage etc. Not so much taste. There is a reason people here add sugar, plum etc powder to cut fruit 
Looks like price is going the way of lemons. Interestingly canada imports a lot of guava from here. But the farmers are getting shafted, as usual. Just one illegal spray away from becoming the next thing taiwan.messed up for.its economy. Its already around $10ish a kg
SumptuousâŠ
Itâs Japanese!
The only local oranges I eat are the green ones, October-December.
Them too? Japan doesnât exclusively own that behaviour.
Think I saw a very large one at 99 ranch
They wanted 8 dollars for it? I put it back it can go back to Taiwan for 8 bucks
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