Australian Big Brain Tests

Enjoy these Australian Big Brain quizzes we've created for you, helping to test the Australian knowledge you have.

Question 1

The seeds of many of this plant group are used today for bread making, or coffee or chocolate flavourings?

Yams
Eucalypts
Lillypillies
Wattle
Wattle Try this recipe: Wattle and red wine sauce Prep. time 10 mins 250ml meat stock 100ml red wine 15g Wattle Combine all the ingredients and bring to the boil. Simmer and reduce to thicken. Strain out the wattle grounds and freeze for other applications eg. as a crumb substitute over meats. Finish the sauce with cold butter or cook in a corn flour slurry for the required consistency.

Question 3

When harvesting long yams, aborigines would choose male vines in preference to female vines. This is because ?

Female vines produce seed necessary for the conservation of the species.
Female tubers are more toxic.
Male tubers are much larger than female tubers
Female tubers have irritant hairs on the outer skin
Female vines produce seed necessary for the conservation of the species.

Question 4

This is a pine tree which produces very large cones containing edible nuts?

Monkey Nut
Brown Pine
Bunya
Hoop
Bunya Recipe: Refried bunya nut pastry 42658 Refried bunya nut pastry Prep. time 40 mins 100g Bunya bunya nuts halves 25ml cream 1 tablespoon wholemeal flour Bring the halved bunya nuts to the boil in just enough water to cover them and allow to cool to warm. Pour off the water into a food processor. Remove the shells from the nuts and add the nuts to the processor with their cooled boiling water. Reserve the shells for use when smoking meat or use them as moulds for the refried bunya nut (see below). Process the nuts to make a just-pourable purée and then fold in the cream and flour. Transfer the purée to a large heated pan and stir the mixture while heating to both tan the mixture and cook it to a roux stage. The fat in the cream should be sufficient to grease the pan and the cooking time will be around 15 minutes to completion when the mixture reaches a roux stage and begins to come away from the sides of the pan. Cool. Put the refried bunya pastry into a pie tin or cake tray as appropriate and using baking paper, push out to form the pastry base leaving the paper in place once done. Use dry rice or beans to hold down the pastry and cook blind at 220ºC for 20 minutes. If filling with vegetables which need extended baking it is not necessary to pre-bake this pastry. To make bunya nut marbles, ball spoonfuls of the refried pastry and serve or roll in bread or biscuit crumbs, shredded coconut or crumbed muesli. Fry in heated butter or oil to brown. Serve hot or cold. To refashion the nuts into halves for a garnish, cover neat half shells with plastic wrap and fill the shell with the refried bunya nut using a pallette knife. Remove from the mould and use immediately or freeze for storage in an air-tight wrap. These bunya nut halves can be chocolate dipped or caramel coated to make petit fours.

Question 5

Warrigal Greens should be blanched before eating to remove toxins. These toxins are

Saponins
Alkaloids
Cyanogens
Oxalates
Bush Tucker-general - Herb: Warrigal greens 42615 Warrigal greens (fresh or blanched and frozen) Flavour - Similar to English spinach. Colour and Appearance - Dark green diamond shaped leaves each about 50-65 by 30-45mm. Typical Uses - As for English spinach and Asian greens. Helpful Hints - Use frozen product in pesto, quiches and stuffings and blanch fresh leaves and use as for Asian greens. Storage and Packaging Sizes - Fresh keep chilled, 500g controlled atmosphere bags, Keep blanched warrigals frozen 500g zip lock bags.

Question 6

Name a local wattle which is a host for witchetty grubs?

Acacia falcata
Hickory Wattle
silver wattle
Flat-stemmed Wattle
Hickory Wattle. Why not try a Wattle recipe yourself? Wattle tiramisu: This dessert is best made the day before so that the flavours and syrups can fully soak the biscuits. Prep. time 45 mins Cake 250g Italian sponge finger biscuits 30g Wattle 375ml water 30ml dry Marsala 60ml sugar syrup Filling 2 x 55g eggs 60g castor sugar 15ml white rum 20ml dry Marsala 250g Australian mascapone cheese 180g chocolate, finely grated cocoa for the topping Boil the wattle in the water and remove pan from heat. Add the Marsala and sugar syrup, mix and leave to cool. Line the bottom of an appropriate dish with half the biscuits to form an even base. Strain the wattle syrup and pour half over the biscuit base leaving stand to soak in. Alternatively, quickly dunk each biscuit before laying them out. In a double boiler, cook the eggs, sugar, rum and Marsala until thick. Cool over ice until cold. Whisk the mascapone cheese until stiff and gently fold into egg mixture. Spoon half over the wattle soaked biscuits, sprinkle on some of the finely grated chocolate then spread out another biscuit layer and drizzle the remaining wattle syrup over the biscuits. Add more grated chocolate and the remaining cheese mixture and finish with powdered

Question 7

This local food plant is a small shrub with light purplish fruits?

Moreton Bay Fig
Midyim
Bungwall fern
Pigface
Midyim Plant Description Botanical name: Austromyrtus dulcis Aboriginal Name: Midyim This is a small rambling shrub with pointed leaves to 25 mm long, and which usually grows in sandy soil. Small white flowers are followed by round, purplish spotted fruits to 10 mm which ripen in autumn. Usage The midyim fruits were gathered and eaten fresh by aborigines. They have a pleasant, slightly aromatic taste. Bushfood fans still relish the fruit today

Question 8

Captain Cook´s crew searched for fresh food plants at Botany Bay because?

They loved to sample exotic foods
Captain Cook was a botanist
Fresh fruit and vegetables were necessary to prevent scurvy
The King of England had decreed they should!
Fresh fruit and vegetables were necessary to prevent scurvy

Question 9

Another common name for the Illawarra Plum is?

Brown Pine
Finger Lime
Davidson´s Plum
Burdekin Plum
Brown Pine. Illawarra Plums Flavour - Plum-like in flavour with a little less sweetness and a pleasant yet subtle resinous quality which is enhanced with cooking. Colour and Appearance - Deep purple, seedless, and the size of a large grape. Typical Use - Compliments chilli and garlic as well as sweet uses. Use in sauces, preserves, muffins, cheesecakes and fruit compotes. Helpful Hints - Use stainless steel utensils not aluminium to prevent bitterness. Blend fruit before cooking or if serving cooked, add lemon juice or vinegar to diced fruit. Storage and Packaging Size - Frozen, 1kg (approx. 340 fruits/kg) See also Illawarra plum sauce

Question 10

Which fruit am I? I grow in Northern Australia. My green fruit has an apricot flavour, and has the world´s highest Vitamin C content?

Darwin Apple
Bush Tomato
Desert Lime
Kakadu Plum
Kakadu Plum Recipe: Pickled Kakadu Plums 42724 Pickled Kakadu Plums ( 520 g) 250g Kakadu Plums, whole & frozen 60ml white wine 140ml white vinegar 2 tbs sugar 1 tsp Lemon Myrtle - ground Boil the wine and vinegar and dissolve the sugar. Pack the frozen Kakadu Plums in a clean glass jar. Add the Lemon Myrtle and pour on the boiling liquids. Leave overnight or longer

Question 11

Many greens were used by early settlers for food. However generally these were not used by aborigines. This is probably because aborigines generally?

Did not boil water
Though them to be poisonous
Only ate meat and fruit
Did not cook any food
Did not boil water But you can, try this Recipe: Salted Scaloppini with Warrigal Greens 42676 Salted Scaloppini with Warrigal Greens Ingredients 1 sheet nori 25g sea salt flakes 20g fresh Vietnamese mint 3 x 50g pork scallopini from the leg freshly milled black pepper 50g Warrigal greens Method · Place nori and salt in a blender and pulse blend until mixed together. · Blanch Warrigal greens and toss in a pan and leave warming. · Coat scallopini with salt and nori mixture very lightly and pan-fry in butter. · When cooked serve on warrigal greens accompanied by a sweetened soy and chilli mix.

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