HOW TO USE
• Use as a flavouring, as you would chocolate, coffee, walnut and hazelnut.
• Add 1-2 tablespoons to bread and cake recipes or to pancake batter or to a cheesecake.
• Combine with lemon myrtle and sprinkle on tofu before cooking.
• In cream sauces for pasta or tofu and it goes very well with milk products.
• In uncooked dishes, let the flavour infuse overnight.
• In desserts, it blends well with vanilla and cinnamon.
• In savoury dishes, it complements lemon myrtle, bush tomato or mountain pepper.
• As a general guide, use one teaspoon per 500g of other ingredients in savoury dishes, one tablespoon per 500g in desserts.
• Wattleseed also makes a good caffeine-free coffee; add a teaspoon to a cup or plunger and pour over boiling water. Allow to stand a few minutes. The used grounds can be used again to flavour biscuits, cream, ice cream.
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Wattleseed
Wattleseed (Acacia victoriae) grows in the very arid parts of central Australia and is wild harvested byAboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Many wattles have edible seed including the Sydney Golden Wattle. Aboriginal people have been using wattleseed for thousands of years as a staple food source but these days it's more commonly used as a spice when roasted and ground.
In general, like other spices, much of the flavour disappears during long cooking. It's preferable to add a spice towards the end of cooking (last 15 minutes). If wattleseed is cooked too long it will take on a slightly bitter eucalyptus flavour.
RECIPES
Banana and Wattleseed Cake
Serves 12. Prep time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour
• 125g butter
• 125g rapadura sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp wattleseed
• 4 medium sized bananas
• 1 tsp bicarb soda
• 125 ml milk
• 300g flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating thoroughly after each egg. Add vanilla essence, wattleseed and bananas. Beat until just combined. Sift the flour with soda and baking powder. Fold in flour alternately with milk. Pour mixture into a cake tin and bake for approximately 1 hour at 180°C.
Wattleseed Icecream
serves 8. Prep time: 20 minutes + four hours freezing time. No cooking required
• ½ litre cream
• 4 egg whites
• 4 egg yolks
• 4 tbsp pure icing sugar
• 1 tbsp wattleseed
Whip egg whites till they form soft peaks. Set aside. Whip egg yolks and sugar till light and fluffy. Set aside. Whip cream. Mix with egg yolk and sugar mix and lemon myrtle. Gently mix in egg whites, making sure you don’t beat the air out of the whites. Pour into your choice of container and freeze till hard – four hours, depending on the size of container.
STORAGE
Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place to preserve aroma and flavour.
SOURCES
Recipe cards from Kurrajong Native Foods (www.bushtuckerstore.org) sample packs, recipe cards from OzTukka (www.oztukka.com.au)five spice pack
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