Quandong leather recipe for fruit strap

[Shalem]

Just boil up the quandong and add sugar when the fruit has broken down a little. Then turn it out onto glass to dry it. Then turn it out onto fly screen when the top is dry enough to deal with and dry in the sun. Probably more ideal in hot or dry places. I'm not sure what the ratio of quandong to sugar is as this was not given to me with the recipe, and I haven't made this yet. There is a guy in SA who I buy his quandong leather from and I really like it as it is similar to a mango leather my mother used to make, a snack from Bangladesh when she comes from. The SA guy sells it whole so has to be cut into straps when you get it, and he sells any amount you want, not just by the kg. His name is Lyle and email is bushfood@westnet.com.au.

[Bluetongue]

Thanks for this Shalem - very useful.

[roughbarked]

I'm fairly sure that if you want to avoid adding sugar or too much sugar.., then you can add fresh apricots or reconstitute dried quandong halves in Apricot nectar before cooking it up and redrying it as leather.

quandongs cut and dried on my kitchen table

[Shalem]

That's good to know. There's another method that doesn't require any sugar. I bought a dehydrator which makes fruit leathers no added sugar required, just pour your puree onto the sheet, sweetens up naturally. [I dried apple rings in it with no sugar, and they sweetened up nicely in the dehydrator, and tasted sweeter than commercial ones.]

I haven't tried fruit leathers in this yet, but was just about to try it with apricot puree. I'm a bit "scared" of making my own quandong leather because the first time I bought quandong shells and left them in the pantry, I found a whole stack of grubs, eggs and soil stuff in them...Yucko. I've since been advised that if I'd stored in the freezer upon purchasing, this would've been prevented, but the thought of eggs still being in there puts me off. Any encouragement welcome!

The shells I bought seemed dried. There's a gourmet store near me that sells frozen quandong shells & perhaps being a commercial product, they may not have the bugs in them. If I had to dry the shells though, it's good to know from you that you can dry them with indoor light. I could dry them in my dehydrator also.

Hhmmm...wonder if I should give these little fellas (quandong, not grubs!) another go!

By the way, roughbarked are those shells grown from your property and what are those ball shaped ones below them?

[Shalem]

Roughbarked, seeing all those shells on the table made me wonder how do you easily separate the puree from the shells when you cook them up to make quandong leather?

I recently bought a KitchenAid Mixer with a fruit vegetable strainer. I haven't tried the strainer yet but I think it uses the principle of separating the shells and skins from the puree. But don't take my word for it if you were thinking of buying one based on this, as I still need to confirm this.

The KitchenAid automates a lot of processes that one might have done in the past.

[roughbarked]

That's good to know. There's another method that doesn't require any sugar. I bought a dehydrator which makes fruit leathers no added sugar required, just pour your puree onto the sheet, sweetens up naturally. [I dried apple rings in it with no sugar, and they sweetened up nicely in the dehydrator, and tasted sweeter than commercial ones.]

I haven't tried fruit leathers in this yet, but was just about to try it with apricot puree. I'm a bit "scared" of making my own quandong leather because the first time I bought quandong shells and left them in the pantry, I found a whole stack of grubs, eggs and soil stuff in them...Yucko. I've since been advised that if I'd stored in the freezer upon purchasing, this would've been prevented, but the thought of eggs still being in there puts me off. Any encouragement welcome!

The shells I bought seemed dried. There's a gourmet store near me that sells frozen quandong shells & perhaps being a commercial product, they may not have the bugs in them. If I had to dry the shells though, it's good to know from you that you can dry them with indoor light. I could dry them in my dehydrator also.

Hhmmm...wonder if I should give these little fellas (quandong, not grubs!) another go!

By the way, roughbarked are those shells grown from your property and what are those ball shaped ones below them?

ball shaped ones are the seeds of or nuts of the quandong.

I simply cut them all around the middle and flipped the seeds out.

I carefully toss any with the grub attack into my compost bucket, though if you pick quandongs that have been attacked the grubs will usually drop out before you finish cutting them these should be spotted and killed because they will then breed up inside your house and be there to get into things in your cupboards. They are specific to quandongs.. They are known as the larva of the quandong moth. The grubs don't lay the eggs .. the moth does.

However I suspect that the grubs in your quandong halves were infected by a more common weevil simply because you had them unsealed in the cupboard.. These can bore their way through plastic and enter jars with poorly sealed lids.

Yes freezing them works a treat.

No. These are all hand picked quandongs from the bush.. hundreds of kilometres of driving involved. I have heaps of seed of several colours and flavours. a kilo of dried quandongs leaves at least two kilos of seed.

further research with aboriginal contacts reliably informs that the grubs are extra protein..

The shit from the grubs.. falls off when dried, washed and frozen.
The fermented looking ones are the sweetest.

[roughbarked]

Roughbarked, seeing all those shells on the table made me wonder how do you easily separate the puree from the shells when you cook them up to make quandong leather?

I recently bought a KitchenAid Mixer with a fruit vegetable strainer. I haven't tried the strainer yet but I think it uses the principle of separating the shells and skins from the puree. But don't take my word for it if you were thinking of buying one based on this, as I still need to confirm this.

The KitchenAid automates a lot of processes that one might have done in the past.

No separation needed.

[Shalem]

Quandong Leather

I buy these from Lyle's Bushfoods in SA.

Unfortunately, this one's worst looking one I've bought, but believe me, all the others I bought looked professional (perfectly smooth, thick, vibrant colour) and were so delicious.

My local bushfood store had these for sale in professional packaging. I think they do come from Lyle. They might have nice smooth leathers.

[Next time I order one from Lyle, like the good ones, I'll replace this photo.]

Comes as 1 rolled piece, any amount (small or large) you desire, he gives you.

Find it easiest to cut using kitchen scissors.

Some uses:

-Eating straight as a snack (one of my favs!);
-diced up for fruit cakes;
-camping, hiking etc.
- put into muesli, cereal etc.

Dehydrator

For experience, I'd really like to try making a quandong fruit leather in this one day.

Question: Has anyone else tried making native fruit leathers or made leathers in a dehydrator?

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My Bangladeshi Mum used to make me delicious mango fruit leathers when I was growing up, based on how she used to make it in her country and it was popular there. I missed it very much in my latter adult years. Then, I was so thrilled when I first found Lyle's fruit leather, and it reminded me somewhat of Mum's mango one with that slight tanginess. Supermarket fruit straps don't appeal to me, and they're expensive.

[Shalem]

I've never bought these, but I recently discovered some other stores that now sell Quandong Leather, and would post them out:

www.murrimagic.com.au

www.outbackchef.com.au

[Shalem]

quandong paste from www.outbackchef.com.au, haven't bought but prob similar to the leather. This store also sells quandong leather as i wrote before. If you are not familiar with pastes, Maggie Beer sells a number of pastes, some of which I've tried. They are a rich thick substance, if you look at her website recipes it can give you an idea of how to use them if you don't want to just eat them straight, so it could assist with your quandong paste. www.maggiebeer.com.au

[Shalem]

Lyle Dudley's updated email and website for purchasing quandong leather:

bushfoodaustralia@bigpond.com

ph: (08) 86662013
www.bushfoodaustralia.com.au