Wattleseed 100g
Memorable Quotes: "Your Wattleseed is fabulous, Very strong flaoured and rich -I love it!" Andrew -Chief Baker at the Common Ground Bakery & Cafe, Rozelle.
Tasting Notes: The first aroma is distinctly like fresh nutty coffee but then you can notice the more subtle chocolate and hazlenut notes. Used in creamy foods like icecream it will impart a more chocolate and hazlenut flavour, used in baking and liquids you will get a more coffee and hazlenut effect. Endlessly versatile, use in the same concentration as you would cinnamon, just a pinch for some mild flavour, more for a complete aromatic effect.
Natural History: Our Wattleseed Acacia victoriae or the Elegant Wattle is collected by Aboriginal People just as it has been for thousands of years. Today it is collected using sheets of cotton laid out under the trees, the pods are then dislodged using wadi sticks and the seed then separated and cleaned by hand using a variety of techniques. The Elegant Wattle is one of more than 1000 species of Wattle in Australia, many of which are edible but few of which have the intensity of flavour and large easily processed seed of the Elegant Wattle.
As a food, Wattleseed has more protein, energy and trace elements than rice, pork & chicken. Research has been done to investigate the possibilities of Australian Wattleseed being used as a famine releif crop in African countries as it grows in deserts which typically have very poor soil, little or no water and produces abundant high quality food each year.
Cultural History: Central Australian Aboriginal people have relied on the Wattleseed as a highly nutritious staple for tens of thousands of years. They would collect the seeds and winnow them from their pods in Coolamon's. The seed woud then be ground on a mobile grindstone (like a mortar and pestle) into a paste and mixed with water to form small flat cakes. These were then baked in the coals of a fire and eaten or stored for later use. Anyone who has spend time in Australias deserts will have seen these old grindstones out in the sandhills where Aboriginal women used to sit and prepare their meals.
Today Wattleseed is less important as a primary food for Aboriginal Australians but is offering opportunity for desert tribes to become involved in growing this important food for use as a spice by people world wide. Several projects are underway whereby remote outback communities are establishing crops of bush foods such as Wattleseed providing employment and income in an envrionmentally friendly way.
Ingredients: Dark Roasted, Fine Ground Wattleseed. Acacia victoriae (100%)
Using Your Wattleseed: Use to flavour bread (1tbs/1kg loaf), icecream, biscuits, pastries, cream, scones, pancakes or anywhere you would like a coffee and hazlenut effect. Use in a similar concentration to cinnamon, only a little goes a long way and the flavour will enhance with cooking or allowing to sit as more flavour will be brought out of the grounds.
Can be used twice if the first time you allow to sit in freshly boiled water, this liquid can then be used to flavour one recipe or enjoyed as a caffeine free coffee (1-1.5tsp per person). Then use the grounds to flavour another recipe such as Wattleseed icecream, just mix through your favourite vanilla icecream, a surprisingly delicious and simple treat.
Made By: Kurrajong Native Foods, sometimes we do not roast the Wattleseed ourselves but have it done to our specifications to ensure consistency.
Storage: Store in a cool, dry & dark place. Will last for 2 years with some flavour loss noticable after 12 months where the grounds can be lightly roasted under the griller to bring them back to almost full strength. Grounds can also be frozen for up to 3 years with no loss of flavour.
Other Wattleseed Creations: Roasted & Ground Wattleseed in spice card size, 100g & 1kg sizes.
