|
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
 |
Author |
|
| Message |  |
|
Lightweight
Little Aussie Battler
Joined: 24 Jul 2006
Posts: 27
Location: Hunter Valley
|
 Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:09 pm Post subject: Syzygium luehmannii |
 |
Can anyone give me some more info on the above variety of Lilly Pilly?
I have noticed there are two varities, one bieng the "Royal Flame"
Do both varieties have edible fruits?
LW |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
eataust
Jillaroo
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 999
Location: Tarago, NSW
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:26 pm Post subject: |
|
As far as I'm aware, all lillipilly varieties are edible.
Having said that, I wouldn't go experimenting without further research :)
_________________
eat australia: grow it, find it, eat it: http://blog.eataustralia.info
Bushfood books - see my "website". |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bluetongue
Ratbag
Joined: 20 Nov 2005
Posts: 991
Location: Geelong, VIC
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:33 pm Post subject: |
|
Hi Lightweight,
That's the Riberry you're talking about, right?
Personally I'd try them, but maybe Peter Hardwick (forum member) can help us with that question.
BT |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
eataust
Jillaroo
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 999
Location: Tarago, NSW
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:51 pm Post subject: |
|
Oh! Riberries! _Definitely_ edible straight off the tree, as long as you don't mind a distinctly resiny/aniseedy sort of flavour (which I don't).
They're big trees, very pretty, and have HUGE masses of small, pear-shaped, finger-joint-sized fruits. North Sydney has them as landscaping and I got some peculiar looks when the fruit was in season by pulling down handfuls for post-lunch desserts.
_________________
eat australia: grow it, find it, eat it: http://blog.eataustralia.info
Bushfood books - see my "website". |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PeterHardwick
Dinkum Sheila
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 161
Location: Nightcap Ranges, NSW
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:55 am Post subject: |
|
Hi everybody,
From what I can see "Royal Flame" is a low growing clonal selection (usually grown from cutting) of Syzygium luehmannii for horticulture (i.e. ornamental). I haven't had the chance to evaluate this paricular cultivar for its culinary qualities. A lot of these ornamental horticulture dwarf lilly pilly's (usually S.australe) are not done with culinary qualities in mind, but that said, that doesn't preclude them from having culinary qualities.
**************
Certainly I would vouch for riberry, S. luehmannii, as an excellent gourmet Australian native food species. It could be called spice-fruit.
The basic flavour is cranberry-like and aromatic. So it's quite sour with an spicey edge. Certainly there are milder good flavoured riberries are lovely to eat raw, especially mixed into salads (vegetable or fruit), but it seems that riberry is most appreciated as a very flexible spice-like ingredient in cooking, in both savory and sweet dishes.
There is a flavour variation within the species, and that's mainly to do with the various aromatic (essential oil) components that give it a comparatively complex flavour.
There's joke with riberry. How do you describe the flavour of riberry? It tastes like riberry.
But I've pondered this verbal description issue, and I would describe the aromatics in my favourite riberries more like this: a combination of cardamon and ginger with backtones of clove, lime and pine.
It has been described as cinnamon-like and clove-like. Certainly there's clove-like edge, but it's much more.
It's interesting to consider the essentail oil aspects. In the late 1980s, when I was working in Wilderness Foods Nursery, I had essential oil analysis work done to cross-reference with the genetic selections that I was doing at the time for flavour.
The good flavoured variants tended to have higher amounts of certain isolates (essentail oil components), like myrcene (occurs in bay leaves), pinene (occurs in pine trees), ocimene (occurs in brazilian cherries), limone (occurs in citrus, especially lemons), and phillandrene (occurs in ginger), and many other many others as well. And the complexity of essential components reflects the complexity of riberry's flavour. (unlike lemon myrtle with its single citral note).
It's was also interesting to compare the good flavoured riberry with the poorer flavoured riberries. The more resinous flavoured riberries, which don't taste that good, seemed to be higher in phillandrene, and didn't have most of the other components. There was also a Eucalyptus flavoured chemotype (containing high cineole levels), which is ok,but no where near as interesting as the classic riberry flavor.
There maybe some reasonable riberry selections being grown in bushfood orchards, but I haven't seen any recent selections that I could say are outstanding varieties from a flavour point-of-view. (I'm sure there must be people out there growing good flavoured riberry orchards that i don't know about. )
Flavour is everything with riberry (that said, yield is important too). But it doesn't do riberry justice if the flavour is not good. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
eataust
Jillaroo
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 999
Location: Tarago, NSW
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:50 pm Post subject: |
|
I'd say North Sydney has got the more resiny versions :)
_________________
eat australia: grow it, find it, eat it: http://blog.eataustralia.info
Bushfood books - see my "website". |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PeterHardwick
Dinkum Sheila
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 161
Location: Nightcap Ranges, NSW
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:53 am Post subject: |
|
Just a correction to a typo (one of many) on my last email, that should read 'phellandrene' & not 'phillandrene'.
I think riberry is a world class 'spice', and that will emerge over time as people discover it more in cooking.
Riberry's gourmet qualities are not always obvious as a fresh fruit. That's why they were overlooked for so long. And yet they are one of the best culinary products in Australia's bushfood range, and that's the irony and mystery of riberry.
And to confuse things more, there is that natural genetic variation. Where some of them don't taste that good, and other seedlings taste fantastic, especially when you know how to handle them.
And it's interesting how the flavour of riberry will come out differently in different recipes. I've had fruit from the same riberry tree taste like ginger in a boiled christmas pudding, and then more clove-like in a baked apple dish.
One of my favourites is glaced riberries coated in dark chocolate. Just exquisit. Riberry and chocolate are like lovers made for each other. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bluetongue
Ratbag
Joined: 20 Nov 2005
Posts: 991
Location: Geelong, VIC
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:11 am Post subject: |
|
| Quote: |
| One of my favourites is glaced riberries coated in dark chocolate. Just exquisit. Riberry and chocolate are like lovers made for each other. |
Now you're talking! 
Can you suggest a retail outlet for that?
_________________
Celebrating our first female Aussie Prime Minister! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PeterHardwick
Dinkum Sheila
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 161
Location: Nightcap Ranges, NSW
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:11 am Post subject: |
|
Bluetongue,
Maybe some of the bushfood wholesalers might know if there are currently confectioners who are doing chocolate coated glace riberries. Surely someone must have done them along the way.
But you could try doing it yourself. I like to use the full flavored dark organic chocolate from Germany (it's a bit twisted - Germany doesn't grow cocoa of after-all).
Also it's preferable to use the seedless riberries when doing glace work. The seeds go very hard in the high temperature syrups.
Seedlessness in riberries is another qurky bushfood feature.
Cheers, Pete. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RICHYT
Little Aussie Battler
Joined: 03 May 2010
Posts: 13
|
| Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 5:02 pm Post subject: |
|
How long does it take a riberry or a blue lily pilly to fruit ? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PeterHardwick
Dinkum Sheila
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 161
Location: Nightcap Ranges, NSW
|
| Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 9:35 pm Post subject: |
|
Riberry - fruiting 2 to 4 years from cuttings, and 6 to 8 years from seed.
Blue lilly pilly - fruiting 2 years from cuttings, and 5 years from seed.
Plant both species in sunny positions to get a crop. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2004 phpBB Group
|
