Tune in next week for ... boabs??

Native produce hits the TV (again??).  Bumped somewhat inadvertantly into Maeve O'Meara and Joanna Savill's Food Lover's Guide to Australia.  They produce the SBS Eating Guide to Sydney, as well, which tends to end up very well-thumbed by the time the next version is produced.  The latest version of the book even has a native produce section, although by the time it was released, three of its offerings were gone - Lillipilli on King, Lillipilli on the Rocks, and Edna's Table.  To my disgust, I've never managed to get to any of them, and now I never will.  Pretty indicative of NSW's lack of interest in native produce, really.

Anyway.  Back to food lovers.  When I flipped over, I found myself halfway into a segment about the fruit of the boab tree, native to central Australia. 

Boab apples are, apparently, edible, although you wouldn't want to eat them on their own, apparently being very dry.  However, that nut-like characteristic, along with a citrussy flavour (we do seem to breed them in the outback!) makes them an excellent mix for all kinds of things like chocolates and bikkies and cake mixes.

But wait, there's more ... boab sprouts are made up of a long taproot and edible foliage.  So there's a place in the Kimberleys farming said sprouts more or less like carrots (apparently you bung 'em in the ground, throw some water in their direction and ignore them.  My sort of plantings ... ), then extracting them when of a certain age (I missed what age it was) and eating the results.

The long carrot-like taproot is peeled into a juicy, crisp white flesh, apparently a lot like water chestnuts.  The leaves are slightly peppery.  The mob combined the roots with a barra fillet wrapped in banana leaf and paperbark and BBQd, with a mango and boab leaf salsa.  Looked damn fine from where _I_ was sitting!

So my next task is to get me some boab seedlings or seeds and see if they'll grow in the cooler and drier eastern states ...

And then me mate Pete tells me that ABC's Beat The Chef features native produce, with Andrew Fielke (Red Ochre, CSIRO's Australian Native Food Industry Steering Group, etc) as the chef to be beaten.  Apparently quandongs will be involved.  Can't wait ...

Comments

[Julie]

I have just come back from a holiday in Kununurra where I tasted the tubers of a young boab tree. It tasted like a mild raddish and had a nice crunch to it. Would be a tasty addition to a salad

[Fiona]

I've now put a call out through the Gardenweb (http://www.au.gardenweb.com/forums/load/oznative/msg0704453915347.html?11) and Australian Bushfoods (http://www.guruna.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=91) forums on the topic of Adansonia Gregorii, having been prompted into action again by your message. (And I've replied personally). I'm hoping for results in the form of seedlings/tubestock - if such occurs, I'll blog the results :). (As efficiently as I blog everything else, I'm sure!! *sigh*). If anyone else out there has ideas, do let me know!

[Belinda Meares]

Is anybody growing Baby Boabs in the East?

I'm researching an article for Organic Gardener.

It does seem great that the seedlings are vigorous growers, and do well without needing chemical fertiliser.

Looking forward to your reply

Thanks