Wattleseed & Wattle Day

Friday 27^th August, 2010.

Hello everyone.  Well its only five days until the start of spring (Hooray). The beginning of our ‘busy’ period, when surfers and swimmers come back to the beach in droves. The first of spring is also Wattle Day. Events surrounding Wattle Day had their humble beginnings in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1838 and culminated 150 years later in Canberra. Although individual states had celebrated their own versions of Wattle Day, the first ‘national’ Wattle Day was celebrated in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide on September 1^st 1910. Wattle Day was used as a focus for raising funds to assist Australian’s World War 1 effort, and to encourage a sense of patriotism during the years of 1914 to 1918. It wasn’t until our bicentennial in 1988 that the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) was officially proclaimed as Australia’s National Floral Emblem. The first of September was formally declared ‘National Wattle Day’ in 1992. September 1^st 2010 marks one hundred years since the first Wattle Day to be celebrated nationally. The funds raised by Wattle Day events over its 172 year history have gone to many charitable organisations particularly between the first and second World Wars. So naturally our focus ingredient this week is wattleseed.       

Wattleseed (Acacia victoriae) is a nutritious roasted grain which boasts an amazing coffee, chocolate, hazelnut flavour which can be used in both savoury and sweet dishes. Edible wattleseed comes from a relatively small number of acacia trees which bear edible leguminous seed pods. There are over 700 species of acacia and the majority of them have poisonous seeds. Wattleseed is available either as a ground powder (spice) or liquid essence for ease of use. The spice is a dark-brown, grainy powder which resembles ground coffee in appearance and has a distinct, light coffee-like aroma and pleasing, slightly bitter, nutty, coffee taste. Wattleseed complements chicken, lamb and fish particularly well, especially when a small amount is blended with ground coriander seed, a pinch of lemon myrtle leaf and salt to taste. It flavours sweet dishes such as ice-creams, sorbets, mousse, yoghurt, cheesecakes and whipped cream. It is delicious in pancakes and goes well with breads. I find it goes very well with warm egg yolk, like our Caesar Salad and makes a great chocolate and wattleseed fudge for ice-cream or waffles. (See blog 4^th June 2010). Wattleseed is a great inclusion in anyone’s diet as it has an unusually low glycaemic index which means that the carbohydrates in it are slowly absorbed and therefore better for you than sugary, quick release alternatives.

Don’t forget to book now for Father’s Day as we are filling up fast. Also the available evenings for Christmas are being filled quickly so make sure you get in soon to avoid missing out.

Til next week, Peace and Good Eating.