How do you prepare a boab nut for carving?
The nut is first rubbed in the sand to remove the outer layer of fur, revealing the brownish harder shell. Using a sharp object the softer brown slightly furry skin of the nut is scraped away, in the manner of a linocut, revealing layers of the creamy hard shell beneath.
What are boab nuts?
Boab Tree Uses The white pith or husk inside the nut is edible. It has a chalky texture and is sour, the flavour being a combination between lemon, sherbet, powdered milk and with an earthy undertone. The pith is rich in nutrients, minerals, antioxidants and importantly vitamin C.
How big is a boab nut?
An iconic tree throughout the Northern Territory. Boabs (Larrkardiy) produce large fruits around 10 cm in diameter. The inside has a chalky nut that tastes a little like sherbet and is amazing crushed and sprinkled on food. Excellent fresh but can also be frozen.
Are Boab tree nuts edible?
Baby Boab is best served raw or lightly cooked, and maintains its crunchy texture when incorporated into preserves. The preserves are all hand made and have no additives. Boabs In The Kimberley grow and source produce from the Ord River Area whenever possible.
Can you eat Boab seeds?
In the dry season, when the bottle-shaped boab trees have lost their leaves, the nuts remain hanging. If you break them open they are full of a powdery flesh, surrounding large seeds. It’s the powdery part that’s edible, and it’s meant to be a very good source of vitamin C.
What is the Boab nut used for?
BOAB NUTS OF THE KIMBERLEY Aboriginal people used it for shelter, and its large “nuts” for food and medicinal purposes.
Can you eat boab seed?
Baobab fruit is edible, and baobab seed powder is used in foods because of its nutrients, possible health benefits, and as a natural preservative. It is a good source of vitamin C, potassium, carbohydrates, and phosphorus. The seeds are removed and ground into a powder that can be added to food products.
Can you drink the water from a Boab tree?
But even though it has so much water, it is sadly not available for us to drink just like that. In very arid areas people often cut hollows into baobabs to create storage ‘wells’ to catch rainwater and perhaps this is where the myth began that Baobab trees can offer drinking water to passing animals and humans.
What does Boab taste like?
What does a baobab fruit taste like? A ripe baobab fruit has dry, white flesh that tastes like yogurt or tamarind. It has low levels of sweetness and a subtle tang, like a mild lemon. The texture of a baobab’s kernels is a unique chalky, dry consistency that may leave a fine flour-like powder coating in your mouth.
Can you eat Boab seed?
How does a Baobab tree look like?
The trunk is smooth and shiny, not at all like the bark of other trees, and it is pinkish grey or sometimes copper coloured. When bare of leaves, the spreading branches of the Baobab tree look like roots sticking up into the air, rather as if it had been planted upside-down.
What fruit is baobab?
Baobab is the name of a fruit from the Adansonia genus of trees and it is found inside hard pods that hang upside-down from the trees. Baobab is usually consumed as a powder made from the harvested fruit that is dried and ground. It has a pleasant, citrusy flavour.
Where did the carving of boab nuts come from?
The decorating by painting or engraving (carving) of boab nuts, is as an art form unique to the Kimberley. In 1897 the biologist Saville-Kent noted that boab nuts were engraved with rectangular designs similar to those found on wooden and pearl shell artefacts from the region.
Why are boab nuts used in art therapy?
Boab nuts in seasonal colours. In May 2013, the women staying at Marninwarntikura Women’s Shelter started painting the wajarri (boab nuts) as part of an art therapy program focussed on assisting women to heal from experiences of violence through creative expression.
How are Jack wherra boab nuts an art piece?
Boab nuts are seen by many people as just tourist pieces, some boabs though are art. The most collectible Jack Wherra boab nuts have Episodic Panels. They present in the same manner as a comic book and tell a story. His detailed three-dimensional images framed story friezes. The nut often divides the nut both horizontally and vertically.
When to pick boab nuts for Jack wherra carving?
Boab Nuts are collected in April and May when the shell is beginning to dry and harden. After that they begin to crack and useless for carving. The nut is first rubbed in the sand to remove the outer layer. This removes the fur, revealing the brownish harder shell.