Guava is a tropical fruit that can add some excitement to your produce haul. These small fruits have a floral flavor with notes of strawberry, pear, and kiwi, and the rosy or pearly-colored flesh has a texture that can be dense, grainy, or creamy. As with any fruit, you should know how to pick the perfect guava before going to the supermarket.

If you can smell a guava’s sweet and mildly musky scent from a distance, it's a good one, and you should also look at fruits with a light green to yellow skin without any obvious bruises and blemishes. The rind should give a bit when pressed, and avoid fruits that feel too soft and overripe, since guavas are highly perishable.

Buying semi-ripe guava is a wise choice to give yourself some flexibility, and you can ripen the fruit overnight by rinsing off its edible wax coating and placing it in a paper bag with a banana. Guava is best enjoyed immediately, but can also be refrigerated for about four days, or cut into wedges and frozen in a sealed bag for up to one year.