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It has been some time since our last published newsletter and I say published as I did write a Spring edition but didn't end up sending it around. As readers in Australia will be aware we are in the middle of a severe drought and this is creating significant challenges for us. Although we are still permitted to a small amount of irrigation water, the trees are all showing signs of moisture stress and our un-irrigated home block has already experienced some tree deaths amongst our younger trees. However, we are trying to stay optimistic and with most Australian farmers in the same boat we appreciate that we are better off than others in even worse drought affected areas.
Contents Farm Export Dried Chestnuts Thank You and Happy New Year
Farm As just mentioned, the water issue is our main focus at the moment. Those trees that have water are holding up but overall crop volume will be greatly reduced this year. Good news is that the premium variety De Coppi is looking the best at the moment so we should still have enough supplies of this one for our mail order customers.
Bush fires once again threatened in December and the North East of Victoria was full of smoke for about three weeks. On some days we had only 100 metres visibility and it was like walking around in a hazy kind of dream world that smelt like the remains of an old fireplace. When the fire was close, we came 'under ember attack'. This means that charred gum leaves fell about us like big black snow flakes. We stood on our decking and watched them float to the ground around the house checking to make sure they didn't start spot fires. It was quite surreal. Since the last fires in 2003, Brian has joined the local Country Fire Authority (CFA). It's a voluntary community fire brigade and he was called out almost everyday to assist with back-burning and fire control and I manned the phones keeping friends and relatives updated on the progress of the fires. We faced Christmas with some concerns but also with the great feeling of being part of a community, working together with neighbours for a common cause. The fire threat has now passed - for the moment at least.
Export You may remember that I was involved with an export project run jointly by the Alpine Valleys Agribusiness Forum and the Department of Primary Industries in Victoria early last year. Each year the Agribusiness Forum awards an agribusiness identity from around the North East Region the Exporter of the Year. In October I was fortunate to be nominated by the Alpine Shire for our efforts to develop export markets for Australian chestnuts primarily in Japan and Singapore over the last ten years and I WON!!! Check out the website for a photo of the other finalists Simon Quilty from Q Exports in Wangaratta; and Chris Pfeiffer from Pfeiffer Wines in Rutherglen; and myself with presenter John Joyce from Rural Development. Photo
Dried Chestnuts As most of you will know, we're always on the lookout for new and interesting chestnut products. Good friend and chef Maggie Beer contacted me last October about her idea for a packaged chestnut stuffing for Christmas turkey. It was a great idea but not suited to our frozen peeled chestnuts so I suggested that we try dried nuts. I had a contact on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne that did freeze-dried fruit so I approached them to dry our frozen peeled nuts. The outcome has been really surprising. The freeze-dried chestnuts are like dense popcorn and can be eaten straight from the pack unlike the normal heat dried chestnuts that are like little rocks. These little nutritional powerhouses would make great hiker food and 150g dried is equal to 400g of frozen peeled. They reconstitute beautifully and are perfect to post so we will be marketing them from the website - mail orders most welcome. Maggie didn't finalise the stuffing mix in time for Christmas 2006 but I'm sure it will be available in 2007.
As an added bonus we've milled some of the dried nuts into beautiful chestnut flour. To celebrate our first batch of flour, Michael Ryan, the chef behind the awarded Range restaurant in Myrtleford has agreed to share his recipe for chestnut pasta with burnt butter and sage. It's one of those simple dishes that is just sensational. See our Entree Recipes page for the recipe.
Thank You and Happy New Year Brian and I would like to thank all our mail order customers who purchased nuts from us in 2006. We appreciate your support and look forward to talking to you again during 2007. And for all our newsletter subscribers, we hope you had a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for a safe and happy 2007.
Until next time ..
Jane
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