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Tag Archives: Wattle

Bushfood – Dry Roasted Wattle Seeds

02 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by gardensandpolkadots in Bushfood, Gardens, Polka Dots

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Acacia sophorae, Bush Food, Bush Tucker, Bushfood, Home Grown, Roasted Wattle Seeds, Serendipity Garden Designs, Wattle, Wattle Seed Pods, Wattle Seeds

I have been hearing the term ‘bush tucker’ since I was a little girl. But, to be honest the only ‘bush tucker’ I can confidently say that I knew back then was the Witchetty Grub and I can tell you now there was no way I was going to even look at a Witchetty Grub, let alone eat one.

Fast forward, I don’t know, lots of years, maybe even a couple of decades and growing in my own garden are a number of bushfood plants, lovingly planted and cared for by myself and my husband. I usually refer to them as bushfood, but you should use which ever term you like to describe the wonder that is the edible Australian landscape.

Those of you in the Sydney region will be starting to see and smell the golden flecks of wattle gracing our neighbourhoods. Don’t you just love the scent of the wattle floating on the cool winter breeze, I do.

Growing wild, beautiful golden wattle

Growing wild, beautiful golden wattle

I thought it might take a little more time but our wattle (Acacia sophorae) is in full bloom too. In ‘Winter Blooms’ I shared with you my surprise to see so many plants flowering in my garden. The vibrant yellow wattle is no exception as the little lime green balls on the flower spike burst open with all of its glorious stamens.

From the garden, our bush food

From the garden, our bush food

After the flowers come the fruit and in the fruit you find the seeds. While the flowers look and smell delicious it is the seeds that I am really waiting for. Not all Wattle seeds are edible but this one is and the flavour that the seeds add to our breakfast muesli is wonderful.

Home made toasted muesli with roasted wattle seeds

Home made toasted muesli with roasted wattle seeds

I finally got around to opening the wattle seed pods that I harvested at the begining of our previous Summer. They had completely dried, some had opened and some of the seeds had fallen out into the bowl (which saves me from picking them out of the pod). 

Wattle Seed Pod with one remaining seed

Wattle seed pod with one remaining seed

My bowl of Wattle seeds ready for shelling

My bowl of Wattle seed pods ready for shelling

Seeds in the pod

Seeds in the pod

They are fiddley little things and the amount of pods plus the time it took to harvest has left me with little more than a couple of tablespoons worth of seeds. But it doesn’t matter, it is all about the adventure of growing, harvesting and turning our produce into an edible product that we can enjoy.

Shelled and ready for roasting

Shelled and ready for roasting

Once I have all of the seeds out of the pod I dry roast them, this brings out all of the nutty, coffee, chocolaty tasting goodness.

Ready for the oven

Ready for the oven

I’ll then grind them in a pestle and mortar and store them ready for homemade breakfast muesli and baking.

The last stage is the grinding

The last stage was grinding the seeds, this was done in batches in a mortar and pestle

I can’t begin to describe the gorgeous scent the ground wattle seeds eminate out into my kitchen, like I said it is nutty and chocolatey with a little coffee but it is so much more than that. The scent makes my heart melt, it is warm, inviting and smells like a country kitchen with a difference.

Oh my goodness, the ground seeds smell devine and look at that colour

Oh my goodness, the ground seeds smell divine and look at that earthy rich colour

Try some roasted Wattle seeds for yourself. You can purchase roasted ground Wattle seeds from online bushfood stores, specialty shops and I have often seen them in Botanic Gardens shops. So next time you are visiting an Australian Botanic Garden don’t forget to ask at the shop for your packet of roasted wattle seeds and find yourself deliciously hooked like I am.

Until next time

Carmel

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Winter Blooms!

19 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by gardensandpolkadots in Gardens

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Blueberries, Crucifix Orchids, Home Grown, My Garden, Native Orchids, Orchids, Paper Daisies, Pot Plants, Viola, Wattle, Winter Flowering

It was such a gorgeous day in Sydney today. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, yes even the Black Cockatoos were out and to my pleasant surprise the blooms are, well… blooming too.

I wasn’t expecting quite as much action when I ventured out to the garden today. There had been hints that one of the native Orchids was going to produce a flower spike – never before seen in our garden. There were also hints that the Coastal Wattle (Acicia sophorae) was beginning to pop out some little yellow delights. Maybe, just maybe the snow pea was showing signs of uncurling a couple of flowers too but I didn’t expect the blooms to be so bloomin’ advanced!

And what about the Paper Daisy? It just keeps going and going.

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After the recent down pours (yes plural, sometimes it bucketed down with no sign of letting up) I had neglected to venture out to the garden to water (and show my encouragment to) the pot plants. Given the splendid winter weather gracing our suburb I figured today would be the perfect day to get out there and see what was happening.

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As you know Dave and I live in an apartment and when we moved in we managed to secure ourselves the northside path by the building. It wasn’t being used so we began making it into a garden oasis, filling it with our pots of ornamentals, fruit and vegetables.

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We are fortunate that the neighbouring house is at a lower level than our property, so this means that our little potted gardens receive sun for most of the year. At the moment some of the pots themselves don’t receive much sun but the majority of the foliage does. Some plants would perform better with more sun but, every little bit counts I say.

So, out I went and greeting me at the back door was a blooming pot of happy, smiling Viola. These little gems bring a smile to our faces on even the cloudiest of days (there’s nothing wrong with a coudy day mind you).

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The next discovery was the golden yellow powder puffs on the Wattle. A few weeks ago I had noticed the beginnings of the flowers, they were tiny little lime green balls popping out from the flower spikes on the branches. I didn’t think that they would reveal the fluffy golden stamens quite so soon. But they have and in no time we will be harvesting the seeds to roast, grind and add to some delicious cooking.

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Another lovely surprise was the native Orchids (Dendrobium speciosum). From our kitchen window we can see one of the Orchid pots and for a few weeks now we have been able to see the start of what we hoped would be a flower spike. Dave and I have never had these gorgeous plants flower before so we weren’t sure what to expect or when. But this little spike has continued skyward to reveal itself as a flower spike (my heart is all a flutter!). This Orchid is the same as what is growing in my parent’s garden in northern New South Wales and I have fond memories of it bursting with flowers under the Eucalyptus tree in the front garden. It is very special to me and right now – I can picture its sunny winter position under the tall Eucalypt.

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We also have a potted Orchid, which was a gift from a friend and to my surprise it has three flower spikes. How exciting!!! This one seems closer to flowering given that the spike is not quite as tight. Stay tuned.

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But wait….. there’s more! We also have a number of Crucifix Orchids (Epidendrum spp.) which come from my parent’s garden (you can read about them here). They are in little pots scattered amongst other pot plants and get moved around from time to time depending on the direction of the sun or to make way for new potted additions. Last year one of these flowered the most magnificent pink flowers (pictured below) so this year I am hopeing that the orange one flowers as well as the pink one.

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I also think it will be a bumper Blueberry crop if the number of flowers on the Blueberry bush is any thing to go by. However, the nights haven’t been very cold and the blueberry really needs at least two weeks worth of really cold nights to produce delicious tasting berries. Only time will tell in this case.

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I hope this has inspired you to venture out into your garden today, you never know what delights await you.

Until next time

Carmel

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