AceFoodDesk – A low yield quandong harvest has compelled a central Australian grower to call for more research into the native fruit, but some say bush food developments should include Aboriginal people and knowledge.

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Oct.27: 2023: ABC Rural RoundUp News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

At this time of year, the branches of Gunnar Nielsen’s quandong trees near Alice Springs are usually laden with glossy red fruit.

“Usually, when we take the seeds out you’d have about 400 kilograms [of fruit],” Mr Nielsen said.

But this season his trees, which number in the hundreds, are not fruiting and he doesn’t know why.

It’s a similar story across the road at neighbouring Earth Sanctuary, a tourism operation that picks quandongs for use in beer, jams and dampers, and educates visitors on the bush food.

Director Dan Falzon said the harvest this year was about 30 per cent of their typical pick, but he wasn’t sure why.

“It’s a million-dollar question … it keeps us a bit wary about how much you invest into these sort of products, because that’s a challenge,” he said.

A valuable fruit, but what is it?

The quandong, also known as a desert peach or native peach, grows throughout arid and semi-arid areas of Australia.

The sweet, tangy fruit is traditionally picked by Aboriginal women in the central desert region of the Northern Territory.

In other parts of Australia it has also been a nutritious staple for Aboriginal communities for thousands of years.

The seeds have also been used medicinally to treat various ailments.

Arrernte and Ngangiwumirri woman Rayleen Brown has been collecting, eating and cooking quandongs for decades as part of her bush food catering business Kungas Can Cook.

They’re full of antioxidants, they’ve got vitamin C and lots of iron,” she said.

Mr Falzon said in addition to the cultural significance, the fruit also had a high monetary value.

“We’ve had prices of up to $180 a kilo,” he said.

“One of our larger trees could potentially produce, at a minimum 10 kilos … so providing you get a couple of good seasons, it can be very profitable.”

Theories on poor harvest

Ms Brown said she has observed a fluctuation in central desert quandong production over the past 20 years.

“Every two years, all the trees fruit really well and then the year following it seems to be sometimes less or none,” she said.

“Maybe because of the low rainfall here, these quandongs have evolved like this. I’m really not sure.”

Mr Nielsen said there should be more research to help growers to consistently produce fruit each year.

“If anything goes wrong with a citrus tree, they can pinpoint exactly what has happened,” he said.

“But here, no-one can really say, because it’s a common thing that suddenly a full tree can suddenly just die and no-one knows why.”

Mr Falzon said more information would help his tourism operation.

“The future of tourism is understanding these great aspects of the region that you’re travelling to and the cultural aspect of bush foods. Quandongs just make this story even richer,” he said.

“There are some wonderful people here with some unbelievable knowledge, particularly the ladies out there in the communities.

“Their knowledge needs to be bottled as best we can, because the benefits are ongoing.”

The NT Department of Industry said it could assist growers in conducting further research if commercial prospects were involved and funding was available.

Bush food innovation hub

Ms Brown said it was important any research or development of native foods involved Aboriginal knowledge and people.

“The industry has become a multimillion-dollar industry now, but sadly Indigenous people have very low participation rates or ownership in this space,” she said.

Although we’ve been the ones to share the knowledge … we’ve been very much left behind.”

Ms Brown would like to see a bush food innovation hub in Alice Springs, where Indigenous people could create their own products and involve young Indigenous people in food science, agriculture and tourism.

“It’s just a no brainer to really try to support this in the Northern Territory,” she said.

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