Beer to be made from bush tucker quandongs

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An interesting snippet appeared on our West Australian news bulletin today. Six months ago there was heavy rainfall throughout our Great Southern region. This has resulted in a bumper crop of Santalum acuminatum or desert quandong (also known as the native peach). This is a hemi-parasitic plant from the sandalwood family. The plant attaches to other species but not to the detriment of the host. The quandong uses photosynthesis to obtain nourishment but also uses the root system of the host plant to acquire nutrients. Some farmers have gone into the cultivation of host trees with a view to producing quandongs at a later date. Quandong fruits are bright red with a fleshy outer covering and a hard nut in the centre. The centres were once used as Chinese checker 'men'. Because of the bumper harvest, there is one brewery attempting to make a quandong beer. Another company is experimenting with the production of gin. Quandongs are a well-known and popular bush tucker food. We travelled the Holland Track a couple of years ago and came across a quandong tree which had ripe fruit on it. We stewed some with some sugar and ate them with tinned cream. It will be interesting to see how they go with making beer and gin from the fruit. The photo shows immature fruit.