Bunya Nut .... success!!

so i had to do a follow-up on my last post ....

you see, that dear friend who brought me the first cone decided that he could get his hands on a fresher ones and dropped one off after church on sunday ... why not see if this works?  up to the challenge?  heck yeah!  <g>

 it was significantly smaller than the last one .... and if i must say .... significantly tougher!  had to get hubby to do this one .... and he had to get two chisels and wedge them in and push them apart to get the nut split.

the mammoth effort!

after that i managed to get them out of their out green protective shell to reveal the inner hard shell ....

so we cracked one raw .... wanted to make sure it was good.  and if you have been wondering about a size comparison .... check this out.  a macadamia nut unshelled and a bunya nut .... shelled. ate this ... had a bit of a fibrous texture ... but was otherwise ok.

woa!  that's a big sucker!

next step is to try the cooking again.   now that we know we have a viable nut .... let's cook it like it says.  apparently this is when the flavour really starts to set in.

the nuts, cooked.

the next photo shows the three stages of the cooking and cracking.  not an easy process i have to say .... but got it down to about 30 seconds per nut!.  the secret seems to be to get a pair of bull nose pliers and use them to wedge into the top and to pull it apart, with the pliers, along the clear fault lines on the nut .... and then to use the pliers to pull the shell back .... at least half way.  then i got a small knife and pierced it and was able to pull the nuts out whole.

cooked, slimy nuts in a pile.  the one off to the bottom right
on the blue towel has had the slime removed (impossible
to get traction to open otherwise.  and the bowl has
the successfully shelled nuts in it!

what do they taste like?  waxy texture with a chestnut / potato starch nutty flavour.  i can see how they could sit around a campfire and eat these (another way to soften the shells, drop them in the fire and wait until they pop!) .... they are certainly meaty enuf!

and a picture tells the story.  roasted about a dozen of them and made a basil, garlic, lemon, parmesean  and bunya nut pesto .... and i reckon the verdict is really good! 

Bush Tucker ... the Bunya Nut way

as part of our move towards a sustainable lifestyle we knew that we would, at some point, be looking at the place of the aussie bush tucker in our day-to-day food feast.  it takes the idea of eating local to it's most intimate use ... the foods that have always thrived where you are and using those to their best in your day-to-day menu ...oh.... this could be fun!  however ... it is not something that has been high on the agenda.  bush tucker would be a part of our JustEarth farm .... but we have to have a farm first!  each thing in it's own time!

in our short time so far in our new community we have met many great people.  and there is this lovely couple that we enjoy, the husband being, well ... a bit passionate about his love for the native aussie way.  he is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to australian natives and how the aborigine population would value and use them.  we have had some great conversations.  not the least of which has been centered around australian trees, specifically the bunya pine.  a majestic and awesome tree that is indigenous to the sub tropics and towers elegantly above the canopy.  he has told me stories of the size of the bunya pine nut (they can kill you if they hit you on the head!), and how the aborigines would come together from all over the northern rivers and southern queensland to feast on these over sized nuts.

yeah, yeah .... sounds cool .... but i have other things that are higher on the radar right now.  right?

so up rocks this energetic mate of ours the other day, pops out of his car and drops in my arms this monster sized nut ... declaring it a bunya pine nut, wanted to show me and ... have fun!  off he goes leaving me with this jurrasic shaped nut with pointy bits all over it.

fast forward to bunya nut education 101!

so ... this thing, honestly is as big as you hear about.  i understand how it could kill someone.  this one weighed in at 3.9 kilo's .... and from what i have read is actually on the small side!

and now we move on how to pull this thing apart!  egad!

nope .... this didn't go .... i wonder....

woohoo!  the hammer and chisel
are actually gonna work!

and we end up with this fine specimen ....

looking good!
just like the book say it
should!

now pulling the seeds out .... not all that hard once you figure it out.  there is a little "lip" that if you pull it away from the section it actually easily exposes the nut.

tada!  our first bunya nut!

and here they are all in there glory.  there are heaps of varying sizes and shapes.  and some look like they are well past their best ... but that's ok ... we're still up for giving it a go!






and what about cooking?

alas poor yorik ..... well .... i did what the research suggested and boiled them all for 20-30 minutes to get the hard shell off.  and they all turned to yuck.

my ultimate tools to try and get something out of the
middle .... but they were all bad.

not sure what went wrong.  the reading also indicated that you need to harvest the nuts within a week of the pine cone falling or they go off.  it could be that the cone was already beyond use.  but needless .... it was a fun exercise.  i gained a bit of an appreciation for all that the aborigines must have gone through to enjoy this thing.  all i can say is that when they are picked in time and cooked properly i have no doubt they are a great treat!  can't wait for next time!

and in the meantime .... watch out for these guys .... they are gorgeous, majestic and inspiring!

Resources:

• The Bunya Pine
• Araucaria bidwillii
• Aboriginal Use of Native Plants
• Slow Food in Australia
• Bush Tucker Plants

getting off the ground

so ... little things are starting to happen.  things that are making my heart start to grow and glow just a little bit.  and helping this, somewhat lonely heart, feel a bit more engaged in what is going on.  (yes, i have been feeling alone and without my friends .... but that is, perhaps, not something to be too transparent about in a blog or is it that i know that it just takes time and i don't want to be lectured about that at this point in time?)

• took an inspirational road trip out to Daley's Nursery.  if you have never checked them out, you should.  wow!  i was truly inspired in my journey towards self-sufficiency.  while we can't grow heaps, yet ... just seeing the plethora of stuff that they offer for the warm temperate and sub tropical climates is way cool!  and i became a VIP member.  i had never realised just how close they were!  
• and getting a few things to plant.  just herbs and few marmande tomato's at this point.  but it feels good to be doing that.
• learning about where to be looking for land has been fun and educational!