Coastal Pandanus
Pandanus Tectorius aka Screw Pine, an iconic sub-tropical
evergreen tree, native to Australia and found growing abundantly along the
coastline of Queensland. While pandanus thrive in coastal conditions they’ll
also grow well further inland if planted in well draining soil and they receive
plenty of sunshine. They’re a popular
tree in many Queensland gardens, grown primarily as ornamentals but their
fruits are indeed edible as are the young leaf shoots, and the older leaves can
be used for weaving and making string.
the stilt roots of the pandanus are quite something!
The large odd
looking fruits are made up of individual segments (known as ‘keys’ or kernels)
and are tough, very fibrous and contain hard seeds in the lower half. The seeds
are also edible if roasted. The pandanus fruit can be used to flavour drinks or
made into sauces/chutney. I simply made a pandanus paste by cutting the ‘keys’
in half, discarding the lower half that contained the seeds (into the compost
bin) and placing the upper halves in a manual wheatgrass juicer to extract the tough
stringy fibrous bits from the fruit. A nice sweet rich thick paste was
extracted which I used as a base sauce in making a curry along with some
coconut cream. Pandanus and coconut are a wonderful combination!
