TASMANIAN PEPPERBERRIES

I've just got a new lot of pepperberries in, please let me know if you need any as they are a seasonal thing. Pepperberries can be used just like you would your normal pepper in a grinder.

They are fairly hot so use with a little care at first. They have a faint eucalyptus aroma which reminds your of the Australian bush, I use the berries and the leaf all the time in my cooking and absolutely love it.

Mountain pepperleaf comes from the same bush, it's just the leaf that is ground to a fine power, sprinkle onto food or as you're cooking, perhaps not so strong as the berries, but still with it's own unique flavour.

Exciting Bushfood workshops - 15th May

CERES Nursery in Brunswick in Melbourne is holding a workshop on growing indigenous plants. I have been to CERES community environment part many times and enjoyed the odd cup of coffee there. It's a wonderful place to visit. CERES holds a huge range of workshops and this one in particular, I think, is well-worth attending.

Interested in growing indigenous plants and edible bush food plants?

This is an inspiring and informative workshop in which you will be immersed in the taste, texture and tantalising variety of our native food plants.

The teacher, Justin Caverley, is a landscape designer with 15 years experience in the horticulture industry. He has taught regular CERES workshops in organic gardening, fruit tree pruning, indigenous plants and Permaculture. Justin has extensive property design experience
and has also worked at the CERES Nursery. Justin is a regular broadcaster on 3RRR's "Dirty
Deeds", and presenter on Ch 31's "The Garden Tap".

FOR MORE INFO go to their website www.ceres.org.au

ROSELLAS

My friend, Marie, rang me the other day to come and collect some rosellas, they were ready to be picked.  She had a good crop and they looked great, bright red fruit against the green leaves.

She planted the seeds in January, they grow quickly and are now ready to harvest.  I'm putting some in this year from the seeds that come from these rosellas.    They grow to a nice thick bush... I did see some some elswhere that where very leafy, but no fruit, maybe too much nitrogen was added!!

Anyway, I duly picked and then seperated the calix from the seed pod, that's a job in itself, then settled down in front of the telly with a glass of wine and a bucket of rosellas,.... the red calix (the part to be cooked) is now in the freezer to be cooked at a later date!!  The bright green seed pods are being dried...I post pics as they come to hand.

PEREGIAN MARKET, SUNSHINE COAST

Yes, It's nearly Easter, just days away now....remember to support the Bilby when you think of Easter treats....I know that the bunny has developed into quite a character over the years and the silver foiled chocolate images with bright smiling faces and 2 big teeth do look cute....but the Bilby is one of our native animals and does need your support and protection. Keep it in mind.

I'll be at the Peregian Market, on the Sunshine Coast, this Sunday with a lot of Outback Chef products, if you're around please stop buy and say hello.

Have a safe and happy Easter break
Jude

COOKING IN PAPERBARK

It's Sunday afternoon, and here on the Sunshine Coast we've had wind, rain, heat and humidity and now it's quiet, the birds are out and the hum of the lawnmovers are trying to make an overgrown paddock into a lawn again...... and we'v decided to go for a BBQ with my favourite fish, coral trout, cooked in paperbark.

Paperbark gives a wonderful smokey flavour to the fish, very Aussie bush type stuff and it's simple to do.....the paperbark trees are shedding now, so go find some, peel off the tree, give it a wash and soak in water, then put around your favourite fish and vegetables....I usually lay a few pieces around it (make sure the paperbark is wet) and then instead of tying with string wrap the whole thing up in foil....on the BBQ in the oven it's all good. Potatoes, or any vegetables also have a great flavour with paperbark.

If you click on the link about you'll go to my Making Tracks site and I've done a bit of a pictorial show bit by bit of the cook.

Cooking with Quandongs

The flavour of Quandongs is quite subtle so don't cook them with other strong flavoured ingrediants, eg bush tomatoes, lemon myrtle etc., but you can incorporate them with spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and wattleseed.

You can also cook them with plums, apricots, peaches, apples and pears if you want to do a little fruit compote, chop in a few bananas if you wish......I've put chopped bananas in a pan with some brown sugar and cinnamon and just cooked them until the brown sugar has dissolved a bit and the bananas are soft then added them to the stewed quandongs...add some ice cream and drizzle some of the red quandong juice over...tastes pretty good, a great addition to that is some chopped walnuts not only for flavour, but also texture, otherwise it's all squish...if you know what I mean.

For stir frys etc where you might add the usual garlic, ginger, soy combo, you could also toss in a few quandongs there.

ABOUT QUANDONGS

I love the name Quandongs and it seems to get everyone in.......I've had a lot of people ask me how to cook them .....they're a bit like cooking rubarb, you need to add a fair bit of sugar as they are fairly sour if you want to stew them to eat over cereal or as a desert with ice-cream.

Often known as the desert or native peach, although they're not a bit like them in look or flavour the name goes back to the days of the European settlers. It's a tart fruit with a large pitted kernel.

The Quandong is now grown as a commercial crop and the CSIRO have been studying it since 1973 to find out the ideal growing conditions...the quandong moth is a bit of a problem and when you buy them in dried version keep them in a cool and dry place.

The fruit itself is very high in Vitamin C (twice that of oranges) and has been a staple food in the outback for the Aboriginal people.

The best way to store Quandongs is in the dried form and to reconstitute put into cold water...approx 1 cup quandong to 1 ltre of water, simmer for a few minutes then leave to soak a few hours, or ideally in the fridge overnight. They will plump up to over twice their size and weight.

The liquid used for this can be boiled up with equal parts sugar to create a syrup and used over ice-cream or other deserts...."waste not want not" it's a fantastic bright red and so looks great drizzeled around the plate.

more on Quandongs and cooking tomorrow......