Collect berries and soak in a bucket of water until flesh washes off easily (about 2 weeks), then hose clean and boil for 30mins. Dry in sun until as ‘hard as gravel’ and store in an airtight container. When ready to use – boil again for 10-15mins and eat – they will be a little slimy. The berries will keep for many years if dried correctly.
Kia ora koutou katoa,
I have been harvesting Tawa berries for many years now and thought I might add some of my own favourite preparations.
Firstly I lay a source of material under the floor beds of the Tawa trees and return daily for collection over a 2-4week period. Ie/ a sheet, frost cloth (anything really, you could even lay newspapers down if it wasn’t too windy). If wind, can peg material down with number 6 or 8 wire.
I lay these down because as you may already know, many fruiting Tawa rakau are very tall, so fairly inaccessable for picking. However don’t get me wrong there definately are still many low enough to pick from.
Then for the fruit,
– wash all of the berries.
– peel the fruit/flesh off the berry. You can either eat the flesh straight off the fruit or peel them off and eat the flesh fresh or do what I do and that is either sun dry or slow slow bake the flesh on very low heat. Cool, then store in either dry brown paper bags or air tight containers. These can be stored preserved for any future meals. Personally I love adding these dried fruit peelings for flavouring/sweetening any rongoa or western herbal teas.
Then for the nut,
– soak the peeled nuts in water for approximately 4-8days.
– or/ just scrub them clean without any soaking.
– again, slow roast the nuts for eating.
These nuts should last quite some time either after being soaked or roasted for future use.
Yum yum, enjoy everyone.
Tui Parker
fab
Yum yum yes they are. It’s the end of the season but you might still find a few yet to fall or are fresh fallen.
I found a good supply of Tawa berries today in inland Taranaki. I ate the flesh and found it quite palatable. I would definitely like to have a go at utilising the nut/kernal too. Thanks everyone for your advice.