QUANDONG harvest time is approaching, and nobody knows that better than Robert Tavian.
He runs the Broken Hill Quandong Farm on the edge of town, off the Silverton Road.
Not content with growing the santalum acuminatum for his own selfish purposes, Mr Tavian operates a farm of commercial proportions, his quandongs, once fully grown, travelling far and wide as a uniquely Outback delicacy, their flavours to be found in jams, chutneys and sauces from here to the coast.
“Around the end of August, the early ripeners will be ready,” Mr Tavian said. “The rest will be ready all through September and a little bit of October.
“Right now, the fruits are getting very close to ripening. Another four weeks, or six weeks, and they’ll be starting to get red and ripen up.”
The quandong, its name derived from “guwandhang”, which is what the Wiradjuri people of central New South Wales called it, prefers arid climates to the soggy coast, the dusty plains around Broken Hill its perfect habitat.
“They prefer to grow in the dry areas of Australia,” Mr Tavian said.
“Anywhere that gets less than about 400mls of rain a year will usually suit them. If it’s too wet, they die. It’s been a bit too dry lately, but not too bad. They’re happy.”
Like many of the world’s happiest living things, the quandong is a parasite, waiting for others to do the hard work before it cashes in for its own benefit.
“They attach their roots onto other trees,” Mr Tavian said. “They particularly like Acacia, because they’ve got nitrogen in their roots. They will survive on their own, but maybe not fruit as well.
“But if they’re sucking on something good, they’re happy, and everything’s basically okay.”
Mr Tavian sells his quandong harvest fares to restaurants, cafes and individual buyers – anyone with a taste for the strange, distinctively Australian fruit – via his website, www.quandongfarm.com, or from his stall each month at the Broken Hill Community Markets.
“Restaurants use it regularly,” he said. “In recipes and dishes, like kangaroo steak with a quandong sauce on top.
“It also goes into gin. The Tydvil Hotel does a quandong gin.
“You should try it.”
