Feijoa Fizz - Naturally Fizzy Feijoa Skin Drink

Do not throw away those feijoa skins. Feijoa fizz is one of the easiest and most satisfying ways to use up what most people scrape straight into the bin. A little sugar, some water, a few days of patience, and you have a naturally fizzy drink that tastes like summer in a glass. ZERO waste, MAXIMUM flavour. Let's get into it!

Why This Feijoa Fizz Works

A naturally fizzy drink made entirely from feijoa skins, five days start to finish and about five minutes of actual work.

The technique is wild fermentation. The natural yeasts living on the skins eat the sugar and give off CO2, and that CO2 is what carbonates the drink. No yeast sachet, no soda stream, nothing bought in.

What makes it work is the two-stage ferment. Three days in an open jar so the yeasts wake up and multiply, then two days sealed in a bottle with more sugar, which is where the pressure and the fizz actually build.

This is the same principle behind a ginger bug or a sourdough starter, and it is the cheapest possible way into fermenting at home, because the raw material is something you were about to bin.

Recipe Details

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Fermentation Time: 5 days (3 days first ferment, 2 days second ferment)
• Total Time: 5 days, almost entirely hands-off
• Makes: Approximately 750ml
• Difficulty: Easy
• Special Equipment: Large jar or jug, fine mesh strainer or muslin cloth, 1 litre plastic bottle (pressure-safe)

The part worth understanding is why that second lot of sugar is not optional. For the first three days the yeasts are multiplying in an open jar, and every bit of CO2 they produce escapes straight into the room. It is only once you seal the bottle with a fresh two tablespoons of sugar that the gas has nowhere to go, and that is what dissolves into the liquid and gives you the fizz. Squeeze the bottle once or twice a day, and when it stops giving at all it is ready. That squeeze test is exactly why I insist on plastic rather than glass here. You can feel precisely how much pressure has built, and a plastic bottle pushed too far will swell and deform rather than shatter. If you want to go further down this road afterwards, my beginner's guide to lacto-fermentation covers the same principles applied to vegetables.

Ingredients

For the First Ferment:

• Skins of 6 to 8 feijoas
• 750ml water (filtered, or left to sit for 30 minutes if chlorinated)
• 2 tablespoons sugar

For the Second Ferment (Bottling):

• 2 tablespoons sugar

How to Make Feijoa Fizz

1. Save your skins: Every time you scoop out feijoas, keep the skins in a container in the fridge until you have enough. Skins from about 6 to 8 feijoas is plenty. Give them a rough rinse but do not scrub them, because those natural yeasts on the skin are exactly what you want.
2. Combine in a jar: Add the feijoa skins to a large clean jar or jug. Pour over 750ml of water and stir in 2 tablespoons of sugar until dissolved.
3. First ferment: Cover the jar loosely with a cloth or piece of paper towel secured with a rubber band. You want airflow, not a sealed lid. Leave at room temperature, ideally around 20 to 22C, for 3 days. Give it a gentle stir once a day. After a day or two you should see small bubbles forming, which means it is working.
4. Strain the liquid: After 3 days, strain through a sieve into a clean jug and discard the skins. You should have a pale, golden, lightly fragrant liquid.
5. Bottle with sugar: Pour the strained liquid into a pressure-safe plastic bottle of about 1 litre capacity. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and give it a gentle shake to dissolve. Seal the bottle tightly.
6. Second ferment: Leave the sealed bottle at room temperature for 2 more days. Once or twice a day, give the bottle a gentle squeeze. When it feels rock hard and does not give at all, it is fully carbonated and ready to chill. If it still has some give, leave it a little longer.
7. Chill and serve: Once fully pressurised, move it to the fridge to stop the fermentation and chill the drink. Open carefully over a sink, because it WILL be fizzy. Pour over ice and enjoy.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• Zero waste magic: Those feijoa skins you were about to throw away are the entire star of the show.
• Naturally fizzy: Real fermentation bubbles, no soda water and no equipment required.
• Ridiculously easy: Five minutes of actual work and nature does the rest.
• Cheap as chips: Uses scraps and two pantry staples.
• Uniquely New Zealand: A drink as seasonal and special as feijoas themselves.

Chef's Tips for Feijoa Fizz

Use plastic, not glass: Seriously, use a plastic bottle for the second ferment. You can feel the pressure building by squeezing it, and that is your only reliable gauge. Glass bottles can shatter under pressure and it is not worth the risk.

Watch out for chlorinated water: If your tap water is chlorinated, which most NZ town supply is, either filter it or leave it in an open jug for 30 minutes before using. Chlorine inhibits fermentation and is the most common reason a batch never gets going.

Temperature matters: A warmer kitchen means faster fermentation. In winter or a cool kitchen it may take an extra day, and in a warm summer kitchen it can move much faster, so keep an eye on it rather than trusting the clock.

Do not seal the first ferment: The jar needs to breathe during those first 3 days. A sealed jar with active fermentation builds pressure and will pop the lid.

Taste as you go: Once bottled, you can open and taste it from day 2 onwards. If it is fizzy enough for you, into the fridge it goes.

Scale it to your skins: Got more skins? Scale up. The ratio is roughly 6 to 8 skins per 750ml of water, and you can easily double the batch.

Substitutions & Variations

• Add ginger: Drop in a couple of thin slices of fresh ginger before the first ferment for a spicy kick.
• Add lemon: A strip of lemon peel or a squeeze of lemon juice adds a lovely brightness.
• Add mint: A sprig of fresh mint in the first ferment gives a really refreshing flavour.
• Sweeter fizz: Use 3 tablespoons of sugar at bottling instead of 2. Just know the yeast will eat some of it.
• Drier fizz: Drop to 1.5 tablespoons at bottling for a drier result.
• Use the flesh too: Scoop the flesh into savoury feijoa salsa and smashed cucumber salad so the whole fruit gets used.

Storage

Best chilled and fresh: This is at its best in the first few days after it is done, when the flavour is brightest and the fizz is at its peak. Pour over ice and drink it up.

Fridge: Once fully carbonated, move it to the fridge to slow the fermentation right down. It keeps for up to 2 weeks sealed, though it will slowly become drier and slightly more alcoholic over time. Drink within the first week for the best flavour.

Freezer: Not recommended. Carbonated liquids do not freeze well and there is a real risk of the bottle bursting.

Avoid: Do not leave a sealed, carbonated bottle at room temperature for any length of time. Pressure keeps building as fermentation continues and it can burst. Once it is fizzy, it goes straight in the fridge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is feijoa fizz alcoholic? It contains a very small amount of alcohol from fermentation, similar to kombucha and generally under 0.5%. It is considered non-alcoholic, but if you are avoiding alcohol entirely it is worth knowing. The longer it ferments, the drier and slightly more alcoholic it becomes.

What if there are no bubbles after 2 days? Give it a stir and leave it another day. Fermentation is slower in cooler temperatures, and chlorinated water is the usual culprit. If by day 4 there is still nothing happening, the yeasts were not active enough and it is worth starting a fresh batch with filtered water.

Can you use the whole feijoa instead of just the skins? You can, but the whole point of this recipe is using the scraps, so skins only is the move. Save the flesh for eating or another recipe, and you get two things out of one bag of fruit.

Why does my feijoa fizz smell funky? It should smell pleasantly fruity and faintly yeasty, and a slight vinegary tang is completely normal. If it smells genuinely rotten or putrid, or there is visible mould rather than just cloudiness, discard it and start again.

Can you make a bigger batch of feijoa fizz? Absolutely. Scale everything up proportionally, keeping the ratio of 6 to 8 skins per 750ml of water. Just make sure your bottling vessel is pressure-safe and has enough headspace at the top.

Can you use glass bottles for feijoa fizz? I would not, and this is the one safety point in the recipe worth taking seriously. Ordinary glass bottles can shatter under fermentation pressure. If you are set on glass, use proper swing-top bottles rated for carbonation and burp them daily, but plastic lets you feel the pressure by squeezing, which is far safer.

What does feijoa fizz taste like? Lightly fizzy, gently sweet, with that distinctive floral feijoa flavour running right through it. Think of it as a sophisticated homemade sparkling fruit drink, completely unique and absolutely delicious.

What do you serve feijoa fizz with? It is gorgeous on its own over ice on a warm afternoon. It also makes a brilliant non-alcoholic option at a barbecue, works beautifully as a mixer with gin or vodka, and cuts through rich or spicy food far better than a sweet soft drink would.

You Might Also Like

How to Make a Ginger Bug: Once you are hooked on natural fizzy drinks, this is the next step, a versatile wild-fermented starter you will use again and again.

Lemon Verbena Soda with Ginger Bug: Another gorgeous naturally fizzy homemade drink, this time using your ginger bug as the base.

Beetroot Kvass: A savoury, earthy fermented drink at the other end of the spectrum entirely, and just as easy to make.

Feijoa fizz is one of those recipes that makes you feel genuinely clever in the kitchen, because you have turned something most people throw away into something DELICIOUS. It is fizzy, it is fragrant, it is uniquely New Zealand, and it costs next to nothing to make. Once feijoa season rolls around this one goes straight on the list every single year. Do not bin those skins.

Enjoy!

Del x

Feijoa skins, sugar, water and five days, turned into a naturally fizzy drink that costs nothing and tastes like a New Zealand autumn.