One of my favourite things is to visit new places, everything is fresh and new, and your senses take everything in at a rate you couldn't sustain on a day-to-day basis.
So it was when I first arrived in the Kimberley to teach at a remote community school. English was not the language spoken at home and I quickly found I had to engage in two-way learning if I was going to be of any value to the kids. Despite it being a long time ago I can still recall the first language name that stuck, larrkarti . To remember it I'd pronounce it phonetically, larr-ga-dee. Larrkarti is the name for Adansonia gregorii or the boab tree.
No one can fail to be amazed by this unique tree with its stout often bottle shaped trunk and it gnarly branches that mirror an intricate root system when leafless, and lead to it being given the title, "The Upside-Down Tree".
Equally impressive as its beautiful form is the numerous ways it is utilised by Aboriginal people in the Kimberley and Victoria River regions of Northern Australia; Primarily as a source of food but also for water and shelter.
My first culinary experience with this amazing plant was being given piece of dry white substance removed from a boab nut the students had broken open. They encouraged me to suck on the pithy coating surrounding the numerous seeds it encased. I still remember the pleasant frothy taste like those delightful sherbert lollies. It's an experience I share with any travellers who come to visit the Kimberley for the first time.
Yarning to people and reading historical accounts about boabs I've also learnt that fresh leaves can be added salads. Once seeing someone pulling up freshly germinating seedlings and chewing on them, I grew them in my vegetable patch over the wet, treating them like carrots and pulling the tuber up after three months growth to peel, chop and add raw to salads.
Recently I was delivered a loaf of sourdough bread which might not seem remarkable, but this was sourdough with a difference. My friend Tess had ground up roasted boab seeds to produce flour which she had then added to her mix. The resulting crusty loaf had a wonderful light nutty taste with the colour and texture of multigrain bread. Everyone who had a piece was left in awe. Nothing like home cooking to invite sensory overload.
Boabs are a remarkably easy to germinate and it is very common to see hundreds of seedlings coming up beneath their canopy during the wet summer months in northern Australia. During these months it can quickly attain a height of one metre before it aestivates over the cool winter months. If you treat it like a succulent and water only during summer months, they are generally carefree however they are probably too large for most gardens. If you'd really like one, I suggest growing it in a pot and potting it on till it reaches a size you desire.
Contact me if you'd like a copy of Tess's Boab sourdough recipe. Till next time!
