2020

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The Jerusalem Artichoke has found a new home in the dairy paddocks of Victoria’s southwest. It is most closely related to the sunflower and was first grown in North America. There is no clue to its origins in the name, and it may be reasonable to suggest it was given its title by a clutch of friends who, having met in a village inn to anoint the name, spent far longer on the task than planned.  It is pretty safe to say the agenda of the meeting obviously allocated more time to ale and mirth than geography and botany. Russell Johnstone and Jayne Olds grow Jerusalem artichokes on five hectares at Scotts Creek in Victoria’s southwest. They share land with local dairy farmers Peter and Kerry Rowe. Russell and Jayne also work on the 210-head dairy. Along with Jerusalem artichokes, the pair grow purple cauliflower, broccoli and other vegetables as the opportunity arises. When the artichokes leave the farm, they are trucked to a depot in Werribee and then transported to a supermarket’s processor in Sydney where they are packed and sent to the supermarket’s stores. “The Jerusalem Artichoke isn’t from Jerusalem and it isn’t an artichoke either” says Russell. The couple don’t know anyone else growing Jerusalem artichokes commercially in Australia.

Although the Globe Artichoke is the best known artichoke, the Jerusalem variety is nothing like this. While its bloom resembles a sunflower, it is the edible tuber that is harvested. Russell and Jayne started growing this root vegetable commercially last year in traditional dairy country, where the fetching valleys are greener than envy. For Russell, it’s a long way from home. He was born in the UK and completed an apprenticeship on the family’s Cheshire farm before setting out to see the world in 1988. When he first arrived in Australia, he was lured to a large cropping property in the wheat belt of Western Australia. The work there was profitable and Russell bought a campervan and set a course for Darwin. He put the brakes on at Ord River in Western Australia’s Kimberly region and “spent a lot of years up there working on fruit”. Russell moved to Tasmania in 2000 and worked as operations manager for a corporate garlic farm. He got to know Tassie and struck a friendship with a buyer from a large vegetable wholesaler. “He always spoke about the one product – Jerusalem artichokes – he’d love someone to come along and grow on a commercial basis,” Russell says. “I did a lot of research into them while I was in Tassie. It was hard and very expensive to come across enough seed to justify being a commercial grower. So I put it on the backburner.” The flame was serendipitously ignited when Russell moved to Victoria’s southwest in 2005. Just after arriving in the state, Russell and Jayne leased 4.8 hectares at Simpson and planted their first vegetables – a hectare of garlic and some purple cauliflower. And then he stumbled across his next venture. “I saw a lady with Jerusalem artichokes for sale at a local farmers’ market,” he says. “I went past her stall several times and nobody seemed to have bought any. At the end of the day I approached her and said I’d buy a dozen bags. “We got chatting. She said ‘we’ve got heaps growing wild in a block at home. If you want any I’d dig them for you’.” Two seasons ago, Russell and Jayne bought about 120kg of tubers from her (tubers bought via the internet cost from $12 to $30 a kilogram).

Aim to grow the perfect plant for your conditions so it won’t be as susceptible to pests and diseases. Russell has plant tissue analysed with BioAg Australia to identify strengths. He purposefully picked heavy ground to grow the Jerusalem artichokes – the tuber stays a little whiter and cleaner in heavy ground and will clean well for sale. For home vegie gardens, spray a mix of milk and bicarbonate soda on your vegies to help keep bugs and moths away. One word of warning from Russell: once planted the Jerusalem artichoke can be difficult to control. Jayne, Russell, their artichokes and other vegetables quickly outgrew the Simpson property. “We started hunting around for more acreage to fulfil what we wanted to do with our vegetables,” Russell says. They shifted down the road to Scotts Creek and now work on nearby land shared with farmers Peter and Kerry Rowe. “We approached Peter and Kerry in November last year,” Russell says. “We started growing artichokes in the December.” Russell and Jayne also work on the Rowes’ 210 head dairy farm and have plans to buy the dairy herd and expand their horticultural enterprise. “The two businesses complement each other,” Russell says. Last year, Russell and Jayne also grew purple cauliflowers and purple broccoli. The cattle graze over the vegetables not sold as well as the stubble. Naturally, many neighbours first thought them mad. After all, some years farmers have trouble growing turnips for cattle feed and the vagaries of this year’s weather might have proved the doomsayers right but raised beds were just one of Russell’s “secret” weapons. They proved a sturdy match for the summer, autumn and winter rain. “We used a rotary hoe with a bed-forming machine on the back to cultivate raised beds 300mm taller than ground height. The weather conditions – we’ve had a very wet winter – were challenging.” The couple’s funds don’t extend to running their own machinery so a contractor was used. Growing the crops on raised beds successfully beat off the wet and a financial disaster. “If we hadn’t used raised beds we’d probably be living in a caravan park bankrupt at the moment,” Russell says.

It takes a minimum of 150 days to grow a Jerusalem artichoke. The extremes of the weather can induce a little insomnia. “We’ve had a few sleepless nights because the plant can grow to about 3.3m tall before you get the yellow flower on top which they need for the tuber to mature,” Russell says. “It’s not so much the rain that bothers the plant but the high winds that come with it. It is crucial the flower atop a long and thin stalk tolerates the wind. Part of the ripening stage (of the tuber) happens after the tops start to die back.”  The Jerusalem artichoke is sometimes described as tasting like a water chestnut yet also has a nutty flavour. Most of their crop is shipped to Sydney where it is sold in three supermarkets. Not all of the 100 tonnes Russell and Jayne grew – the yield averaged 20 tonnes a hectare – is for market. “We needed to grow and harvest a minimum of 60 tonnes for us to continue next year,” Russell says. “We knew we could sell 50 tonnes to the supermarkets but we needed a good amount to plant for next season.”

Jerusalem artichokes can go wild (and is often considered a weed, according to Russell). The plant is a perennial, and leaving the tubers in the ground can be a fine practice for the home gardener looking to grow more of it. But this doesn’t suit commercial cropping. “A fresh plant needs to be grown,” Russell says. “If you don’t do this, eventually your yields are going to start dropping off.” Russell and Jayne are also breeding their own variety of artichoke. “For us to advance, we have to generate fresh seed and the only way to do that is to cross pollinate with another variety of Jerusalem artichoke,” Russell says. “We’ve hunted down 15 kilograms of a different variety (there is only a handful of varieties of the Jerusalem artichoke) and we’ve grown a line of ours and a line of artichoke imported from North America.” A nursery section has been established among the crop. “The tubers get planted with a potato planter (a two-row machine),” Russell says. “We fill one side of the machine with our own tubers and the other side with the imported tubers and grow them next to each other. When the plant gets up to the flowering stage, a friend who is a bee keeper comes along. We put the bees out to do the pollination work. We cross pollinate one plant with the other and then collect the seed.” Their day can start at 5am and, in summer when there is watering to be done, the finish line isn’t realised until 10pm. A capacity for hard yards may partly explain why Russell has returned to Cheshire just once in the past 20 years (though his parents have visited often). Despite undertaking daily marathons, this couple is undaunted. Their buyer has asked them to grow double the amount of Jerusalem artichokes next year.

FOUR WAYS WITH JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES
Not mush trouble Raw or cooked, your options with Jerusalem artichokes are wide open. Just as with potatoes, they can be baked, boiled, steamed, fried and microwaved. However, they will cook faster than potatoes and can easily be turned to mush in a matter of minutes if you do not monitor them closely. Keep your eye on them and remove them from the heat as soon as you can easily pierce them with a skewer.

Cheese and artichoke chowder

Melt some butter in a saucepan and soften a sliced onion. Add sliced Jerusalem artichokes and sliced carrot and cook for a minute before sprinkling in a little flour and then gradually adding some chicken stock to cover. Put on a lid and simmer for 20 minutes. Blend the soup until smooth. Add some milk and grated gruyere cheese and a dash of dry mustard. Season with salt and blend again. Pour into a clean pan and reheat gently; do not boil. Taste for seasoning. Garnish with julienned artichoke, carrot and the green part of a leek which have been blanched in boiling water and refreshed in cold water.

Lemon chicken with Jerusalem artichokes

Set aside the zest of one lemon and the juice from two lemons. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large, deep saucepan and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Season four chicken thighs and place skin-side down in the hot pan and quickly brown them, turning only once. Remove to a plate and keep warm. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, a further tablespoon of olive oil, a cup of chicken stock and a generous pinch of saffron to the pan. Bring to a boil, stirring to loosen any browned bits. Add 500g peeled Jerusalem artichokes and 10 peeled garlic cloves. Return the chicken to the pan, along with any accumulated juices. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, until the chicken and artichokes are tender. Stir in 1/4 cup of cream and a tablespoon of chopped thyme leaves. Taste and check seasoning. Return to a simmer and cook an additional 10 minutes. Serve over steamed rice and sprinkle with pine nuts to garnish. Serves four. Spinach and walnut salad with roasted beetroot and artichokes

Preheat an oven to 200C. Cut 250g each of beetroots and artichokes (sized evenly) and toss in a roasting pan with olive oil, seasoning and mixed dried herbs. Cook for 20 minutes. Turn the vegetables and leave them to cook for a about 30 minutes so they are tender and crisp. Remove the pan from the oven and keep warm. Make a salad with baby spinach leaves and chopped walnuts, add the warm roasted vegetables and lightly toss together. Just before serving, toss the salad with a vinaigrette made with two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and a little freshly ground black pepper. Serves four.       Jeremy Vincent

Sheryl:  What was interesting about this article was the fact they left out a certain little delicacy – the known fact that it causes flatulence! I don’t have room here but read Stephen F. Nottingham’s blogspot on the web. He co-authored “The Biology and Chemistry of Jerusalem Artichoke”, a wonderful read!!!  The above article appeared in the Weekly Times – a great country Victorian newspaper – can highly recommend a subscription. https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/  

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This section will discuss various ways that fruits can be preserved in the home. One of the advantages of preserving fruits is to have them available for consumption over a longer period of time. By preserving fruit, one is able to utilize all of the fruit in a single season. The following methods to do not require sophisticated equipment and can be accomplished using basic equipment found in the home.

Drying is an excellent way to preserve fruit. Dried slices or “fruit leather” are two options to make delicious, sweet, all-natural snacks. There are several advantages to drying including; ease in preparation, and the fact that pre-treatment of the fruit is not necessary.

Drying is the oldest method of preserving fruit. Originally, fruits were left out in the sun to dry. Later, people began drying fruit over fire. Now, most drying is done in stoves or ovens. Commercial dehydrators are also available for home use.

Many fruits can be preserved by dehydration. Several types that are easily dried include: apples, peaches, apricots, and mangos (which are perhaps the most popular). However, with a little experimentation, many of our South Florida tropical fruits work equally well.

Peeling a Mango Dehydrators:

Several good commercial dehydrators are available for home use. The best machines have an electric heating element with temperature controls, and fans that assure uniform temperature distribution in the drying chamber. Teflon mesh trays are preferable because the dried fruit slices do not sick to them.

A household oven (electric or gas) can be used if the temperature can be set low enough to prevent darkening of the fruit. A convection oven works almost like an electric dehydrator.

Dehydrating Mangos: Slicing a Mango

Procedure:

Select quality fruit: Select firm, ripe fruit. Carefully wash and peel the fruit.

Cut the fruit: Cut the pulp into lengthwise slices up to an inch in thickness.

Place the trays in the dehydrator: Arrange the slices flat on the dehydrating trays. Be careful not to clump the fruit slices together.

Temperature: Set the temperature control from 125° to 135°F, and let it run until the slices reach the desired consistency. Slices that are too soft or moist do not store well. Drying time depends upon the thickness of the slices, the amount of fruit in the dehydrator and the humidity. In South Florida, drying times depends on the ambient temperature and atmospheric humidity. The relative amount of moisture in the fruit, and the thickness of fruit are also important to consider.

Mango leather
Mango leather is an excellent alternative to make a delicious candy. Kids love it!

Select fully ripe fruit that is in season. This is a good way to use culls or slightly bruised fruit. The pulp should be soft enough to puree easily. In a blender or food mill, process the peeled and pitted pulp to a smooth puree. No additives are needed. Place the plastic wrap or wax paper on the dehydrator trays. Spread the puree about an inch thick. Place the trays in the dehydrator with the temperature set to 125°F to 130°F. Turn on the dehydrator and let it run until the leather has reached a firm, elastic, sticky consistency, usually about 8 to 10 hours. The leather is finished when the dried pulp can be easily peeled from the plastic. Dried mango leather is usually a darker color than dried slices. Remove leather from the trays and roll it up in the plastic sheets. Uncovered leather rolls will stick together.

Drying mango slices Advantages of dry fruit: This healthy snack contains fiber, vitamins and minerals. Most people like it Drying does not change the flavor of the natural fruit In many fruit the color retention is excellent Fruit can be stored in a small space Dried fruit makes beautiful crafts and gifts Packaging dry fruit for storage:

Dried fruit slices and fruit leather should be sealed in bags soon after drying or they will take up moisture and soften considerably. For best storage, dried fruit can be kept in the refrigerator for at least three years. Do not store them at room temperature for more than a few days, they will ferment or mold.

Canning mangos
Canning involves the natural enzymatic breakdown of fruit by heating fruits in a liquid medium inside a closed container. This method requires more knowledge of food preservation. The recommended method of canning fruit is the water-bath.

PH: Fruits with a pH of 4.0 to 4.5 (such as mangos, papayas, figs) should have acid added to packing medium to obtain a pH below 4.0.  One-fourth cup lime or lemon juice per pint is enough to make the needed pH adjustment.

Processing fruit: Fruit and all the equipment to be used should be washed thoroughly prior to commencing work. It is preferable to use fresh fruit over frozen. Make sure to remove all seeds first.

Jellies, jams, butters, marmalades and preserves are fruit preserved with sugar and usually jelled to some extent. Their individual characteristics depend on the kind of fruit used, the mixture, and the method of cooking.

Cooking times and methods vary according to the product being made.  When making preserves without commercial pectin, combine the fruit or juice with sugar and cook to the

Fairchild’s International Mango Festival
Jelly: is made from fruit juice and should be clear and tender, yet firm enough to holds its shape.

Jam: is made from crushed or ground fruit. It is smooth and thick, slightly softer than jelly and still holds it’s shape.

Butter: is made of fruit pulp that is cooked to a smooth and very thick consistency. It can be sweet or spiced.

Marmalade: is made of pieces of fruit pulp and rind evenly suspended throughout a clear jelly. Citrus fruits are commonly used, either alone or in combination with other fruits.

The temperature or consistency recommended, or to the jelly point. If you like your product firmer, lengthen the cooking time, for a softer product, shorten it. Overcooking it is also causes darkening of preserves and a taste and odor of caramelized sugar. Be careful not to overcooking the fruit.

Mango Evaluations
Preserves: are whole fruits or large pieces of fruit cooked in thick sugar syrup until the fruit is tender and somewhat transparent in appearance.

Sterilization: The objective here, is to destroy bacteria and other microorganisms that may spoil food, by heating the mixture. Special canning jars with self-sealing lids should be washed in hot soapy water. Lids must be new. Place clean jars in a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil jars for at least 10 minutes to sterilize.

Kids Love Mangos
Filling and sealing jars: When the fruit is ready for canning, remove a hot, sterile jar from the water with tongs, and ladle the fruit into the jar. After jars are filed, wipe away anything on the threads of the jar, or anything that has spilled on the outside with a clean damp cloth. Place lid on jar and screw tightly. Invert jar for about 30 seconds so hot jelly can destroy molds or yeast, which may have settle on the lid. Return jar to an upright position and allow it to cool. When the jar has completely cooled, check the seal to be sure it is secure. If the center of the lid is indented slightly, the jar is sealed.

Most often the seal is completed as the jar cools, and you will hear a familiar “ping” sound as the center of the lid inverts when a vacuum is formed. If the seal is not complete, bring the contents of the jar to a boil and re-pack using a clean, hot, sterile jar and a new lid.

Freezing Mangos
Freezing mangos is accomplished by storing fruit at temperatures bellow 32°F. This limits the enzymatic breakdown of the fruit. Mangos can be frozen without any special treatment except washing, while some fruits need to be peeled or seeded. Still others need to be treated with ascorbic acid to prevent darkening. Frozen fruit looks and tastes very similar to fresh fruit.

Ref:  http://www.virtualherbarium.org/TropicalFruit/mangopruning.html 

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Don Ellison has 50 years experience in growing passion fruit. He presently grows them on his property in the Gold Coast hinterland. He regularly travels overseas on horticultural missions and has authored many books and magazine articles. This article is a summary of an information-packed discussion and slide-show presentation by Don at our club meeting on 9 June 2010. Don discussed the major varieties of edible passionfruit including his favourites and some that he has bred on his property. The table below is a summary of the varieties discussed.

Variety Comments

Alata This variety crops well. It will self-pollinate in some areas depending on what bees are around. However in some areas hand pollination is necessary for optimum results. Hand pollination is best done in the morning. Coccinea This is an ornamental climber with red flowers but one of the best root stocks. Most commercial growers for some reason want to stick with the Flavicarpa as a root stock rather than try new ones. However Don’s pick of root stocks are this one (Coccinea) and the North. These are very resistant to viruses, while the Flavicarpa is less so. Decaisneana A hybrid cross between the Alata and Quadrangularis. They are better to eat than the Quadrangularis. Don hybridises it by hand, uses the pollen from the Quadrangularis on to the Alata. However, once the plant is growing and established, it will then self-pollinate. Flavicarpa This is a hardy climber with an edible yellow fruit. It is used as a root stock. Gaby’s Red This was developed in Florida jointly by Don and a friend. It was developed from hybridizing a red from Panama and a red from Costa Rica. Gaby developed a major business selling frozen passion fruit from a road-side stall. She cut the tops off passion fruits (in the manner of a boiled egg), scooped out the pulp and mixed it with soft-serve ice cream. She then put this mixture back into the fruit skins, replaced the tops, and put them in the freezer. She then started using some big yellow fruit that Don sent her over to her, and was selling more than 1,000 of them a week at $3.00 each. The business kept on growing and she received a government grant. She now sells a range of other fruits including the fruit part of the cashew nut, and supplies all the supermarkets in her area. She can’t keep up with the demand! Golden Giant It’s the earliest fruiter. Comes in around November/December when there is very little passionfruit in the market. A round-shaped fruit, good for growing on its own root stock. It has quite a lot of pulp. People have had problems with the Panama having very little pulp or seed. Golden Nugget One of Don’s favourites and probably his biggest seller of seed. Has a very full cavity of pulp and is widely found in garden centres. It is about twice as big as a Panama Gold and crops well, particularly in Perth with its sandy soil. Incarnata This is a mauve flowered climber, with leaves used as a natural medicine for insomnia. Don hybridised it to get the ‘North’ mentioned earlier. It sends out underground suckers. Laurifolia This one is popular in South America and England, and should grow well here. Like North, it also survived inundation by over 2 metres of flood water. It will survive cold weather. It has an attractive pleasant-tasting fruit. Don’s friend Gaby in Florida grows them in large pots sitting on black plastic to stop nematodes. Ligularis This is a good eating yellow fruit, easy to break open. It will take a little frost but needs regular fertiliser to keep it going. This is a very heavy fruiting species. Macrophylla This is native to Ecuador and one of the very few shrub varieties of passiflora. It is not a vine. Its leaves can be up to 2 feet (600mm) long. There are about 6 shrub varieties out of the 800 or so different species of passiflora. Maliformis This variety has a very hard shell, and needs a hammer to break it open. It is widely used in Central America, particularly Costa Rica. Misty Gem This variety has been good in the last few years but it lasts only 12 to 14 years before it starts to deteriorate. It has been overtaken now by one called Sweet Heart which has a good colour, a tear-drop shaped fruit, but less pulp than the Misty Gem. North This is the result of one of Don’s many experiments. It is a cross between the Incarnata from America and the common edulis. The Incarnata in America dies down in winter and they use the leaves of the plant to make a tea that assists in the treatment of insomnia. Normally there is a lot of trial and error getting a crop from the Incarnata. However Don crossed it with an edulis and used Colchicine to alter the plant’s biology, and finally got a crop. ‘North’ got its name from its location; it was the northernmost and sole survivor of 3 of these hybrids that Don grew side by side. North has been going for 10 years with no root rot or viruses or signs of dying, including being totally inundated by a flood. Don is working with Carol Newman to produce it as a root stock. Panama Red A vigorous variety with a large fruit. It is a much deeper colour than Pandora. Pandora This is a newer one on the market, and is preferred by some growers to the Panama Red. It doesn’t always have a good skin colour, and this depends where it is grown. It is promoted as a cold-climate passionfruit. Its colour is not always perfect, but it is a reselection of Panama Red and sells better than Panama Red. Purple Giant One of Don’s early hybridised cultivars. It is larger than the normal Passiflora edulis, with good flavour and colour. It is now used primarily as a breeding plant. Quadrangularis This is mostly a self-pollinating variety with football size fruit! Red Perfection This is one Don uses for hybridising. Another good one for this is Tom’s Special. Red Perfection is very red, and Tom’s Special is very black. As an experiment Don delivered 5 different varieties to Woolworths free of charge and asked them for feedback as to which ones sold the best. Red Perfection and Tom’s Special were the 2 best sellers. Ruby This is one of the new ones. It’s about the size of Panama Red or Pandora, but it has a lot of pulp that goes right to the edge of the skin and it weighs a third more than either of those. The only supplier is Carol Newman at Palmwoods who has the exclusive rights to release it. This is the one that will take over from Pandora. Don’s growing tips:

Dealing with frost (and hares): Don places plastic tubes over the stems of young vines as they are planted. The tube is like a plastic bag with no sealed top or bottom, and 3 or 4 small stakes are used to hold the plastic off the plant stem. The plastic protects the stem up to nearly the first row of wire on the fence that supports the vine. Once the plant is above the plastic it just grows up to the top wire. The plants definitely grow a lot faster when planted with the plastic tubes; the tubes give the plant more warmth in winter and prevent hare damage as well. As an additional measure against frost, Don applies foliar-sprays. In the weeks leading up to when frost can be expected, he sprays twice with Seasol, and this is followed by two applications of ‘Envy’ (or ‘Florigard’). Timing is important; the last application of Envy or Florigard should be about a week before the frost comes. In Don’s experience, this gives frost protection to about -4ºC.

Use Weed Mat: Don buys Weed Mat in 100m lengths, and puts it around his plants. It does 3 important things: it stops weeds; it stops evaporation of water, and as yet another frost mitigation measure, it keeps the ground warmer in winter. Don recommends it for all tropical fruit trees that are sensitive to cold. He also recommends buying the lighter weave available at places like Bunnings because it lets through water and liquid fertiliser.

Boron and trace elements: Don had an Incarnata variety that was having problems self-pollinating, but it improved significantly after treatment with trace elements to the extent there was no need to hand-pollinate. According to Don, success at growing all passion fruit depends on the right balance of trace elements. He recommends the Peters brand of fertilisers because they contain most of the required trace elements. However the only thing missing in them is boron which is essential for passion fruit and needs to be added. Boron can be bought in the laundry section of Coles or Woolworths where it is sold as Borax. Don recommends half-a-teaspoon of boron at most in a watering can, along with a teaspoon of iron chelate, and a teaspoon of Epsom salts. One watering-can will do 4 plants.

Fertiliser: Don obtained his best crop ever when he dug plant holes with a post hole digger and mixed into the soil that came out of the holes an 8 inch (120mm) pot of cow manure and the same quantity of chicken manure When he planted the vines he put that mixture back into the holes and added Nitrophoska Blue. Don recommends Nitrophoska Blue as the best fertiliser for fruit trees and passionfruit because it contains most required trace elements but not enough boron. Don said that using proper fertiliser and trace elements, a young plant grown in a pot in a shade house through winter and planted at the end of September will give its first fruit in February – not a huge amount, but quite a few nevertheless.

Don’s answers to members’ questions:

Q. How often do you fertilise? A. I do it every couple of months, but early spring is the best. Q. Do you use the boron once a year? A. No – probably 3 times and the same with fertiliser. I use a lot of potassium nitrate. I put that on with the trace elements. (Note: In Thailand, they spray their longan trees with potassium nitrate and they get 3 crops a year.) Q. When you are growing your passionfruit, do you grow them along wire or a fence, and do you prune them and train them in any way? A.  I get 8 foot (2.4m) star pickets and put them in the ground about 1½ feet (450mm). There are two wires on it – the top wire at the top of the picket. They support it all. Q. You said you used an 8 ft star picket with 2 wires? A.  Yes – one at the top and one half-way up. Q. How do you prune them? A.  I don’t prune them at all. Q. (About the Ruby) Are they all grown from seed or grafted? A. This one (Ruby) is grown from seed. Q. Do these (Ruby) get fruit fly or fruit spotting bug because of their thin skins? A.  No, the red ones get very little fruit fly. The yellows are more susceptible. Q. What about the fruit spotting bug? A. These (the reds) are pretty free of problems. Q. How many crops a year do you expect? A. Some of them crop all year round. I expect at least 2 crops and probably 3. The one gap is in November. Q. How long does it take from time of pollination to when the fruit is ripe? 6 to 8 weeks depending on temperature. Q. Do you know anyone who grows passionfruit in large pots? A. Only the woman I know in America because she has a nematode problem. (See ‘Gaby’s Red’ in the first table) Q. Pots would tend to restrict the plant in the end wouldn’t they? A. They seem to come on well in the pots; I was surprised at what good growth she (Gaby) got. While she doesn’t have problems with hares, she has problems with squirrels! Q. Has tissue culture ever been tried in Thailand? A. No but we are working on it. Thailand is not the best place to get tissue culture done on passionfruit; we’re working with Sri Lanka. We are keen to get tissue culture for our plant called North. If that comes off, there should be much bigger crops because of the resistance to viruses. If you look at Nellie Kelly passionfruit, they used a Caerulea as the root stock as it withstood the cold better than the Flavicarpa. Q. The root stocks that you use, are they inclined to sucker? A. They do. It’s one of the biggest problems. If you go down to some of the old passionfruit growing areas like the Murrumbidgee area you will see thousands of them. Q. What causes it? A. It’s just a normal thing. It’s like the Incarnata – it will go 50 metres, and in the right circumstances, so will Caerulea. That’s how it grows in its natural habitat. There are only a few that do sucker in their natural habitat, and the authorities don’t like them coming into Australia, but the fact is they are already here. Q. Have you had any success with the banana passionfruit (Mollissima)? A. I sell huge quantities of banana passionfruit seed grown by a friend in Tasmania. They have been grafted and grow all over Florida. It’s the phytophthora that knocks them and if they are grafted on to any root stock like Flavicarpa, they will grow here. But if you don’t graft, it’s an uphill battle. Q. Which are the varieties most resistant to woodiness? A. Woodiness is the mosaic virus. It is spread by aphids and thrips. The red ones – Pandora, Ruby, Gaby’s Red – are probably the most resistant to it. I have never had one woody passionfruit in any of those. If the North root stock gets going, it might stop the problem. Q. Do you graft any of your varieties? A. Only the Mollissima – the Banana passionfruit mentioned earlier. This is the only one I graft. Others all are grown from seed. (To develop a hybrid) You use basically closed-pollination, so you go out, hand pollinate, and close the flowers off. Q. All your hybrids are actually done by hand? A. They are done by hand. When you are using Colchicine to alter the plant, (say) if I am going to pollinate on to an Incarnata, I cut one of the little buds out of it, near the top, and I put a drop of Colchicine and pollinate on the one above where you put in the Colchicine. If you use the Incarnata as the female, you get a different result to that if you used the other one, the edulis, as the female. It is the same with the big Quadrangularis: I use the pollen from the Quadrangularis on to the Alata to get Decaisneana, but I get a totally different plant if I do it the other way around. Q. When you are bringing seed back in from overseas, what is the best way of separating the pulp from the seed?

A. I have a commercial way of doing it. I cut open possibly 1000 fruit, the pulp goes into a 15-gallon garbage bin. I use 10% hydrochloric pool acid to water.  Make sure the water covers the pulp and the seed. Then I insert a paint stirrer on an electric drill and whip it around and leave it for about 2 or 3 hours. Then I come back and stir it again. I have two sieves – one that the seeds will go through but bigger stuff won’t, and the smaller one underneath that the seed won’t go through. I hose it off with a high-pressure hose and it comes out clear and is dried off quickly. If you want to do it at home, get a blender mixer and put elastoplast around the blade (so not to smash up the seed).

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Commercial Marcotting of Fruit Trees  by Peter J. Young      

Marcotting is the recognised international horticultural term for aerial layering originating from the French word ‘marcotte’ that means ‘to aerial layer.  This method of vegetative propagation is widely used throughout the world to clonally propagate fruit trees that are very difficult to reproduce by any other means, e.g. Lychee and Longan.  It is also an easy way to successfully propagate most types of plants without the need for specialised equipment, growing houses or skills. Marcotting is commonly used in Asia for the propagation of most fruit trees in particular Citrus, Fig and Mango and also many ornamentals such as Hibiscus, Rose, ‘Casuarina and Syzygium.  Such marcotted branches are often sold as marcots at markets or through retail outlets with fruit and/or flowers attached alleviating the need for Labels.

Marcotting does use up large amounts of propagation material and is labour intensive.  Both these factors limit the commercial use of this propagation technique when compared to conventional methods in highly competitive nursery industries.  It can also produce a weak rooted plant that is prone to lodging if the root system is not properly trained when the marcot is removed from the parent tree and grown on.

MARCOTTING PRINCIPLE
The basic principle is to cincture the branch by completely removing a section of bark right around the branch to a width of 1-4 cm depending on branch diameter.  A suitable rooting media is placed over the cinctured area and enclosed in an impervious material that will retain the desired moisture level in the rooting media and keep excess moisture out. Usually sterile peatmoss is used as the rooting media and clear plastic is used as the impervious material.  The plastic is held firmly in place by binding with strong twine or by using plastic covered wire, such as twist-ties. The marcot rootball needs to be held firmly in place during the rooting period as any twisting of the rooting media around the branch will damage roots.

BOTANY
Cincturing the branch removes the bark and hence the phloem or food conducting tissue down to the active cambium layer. Care must be taken not to excessively damage the water conducting tissue or xylem inside the cortex or the hard woody section of the branch.  The stronger the cortex or woody section, the easier it is to cincture a branch without damaging the xylem or water conducting tissue. This is important as the branch stem and leaves above the cincture rely on this water supply for survival.

Plant food manufactured by the leaves above the cincture can no longer transfer down the branch to the lower stem and roots and accumulates in the cinctured branch.  This accumulation of food reserves is as important as root development as it is this food reserve that supports the marcotted branch once removed from the tree until an independent root system develops.
It is important that no active cambium cells or any bark remnants are allowed to remain within the cinctured area.  Re-callusing of the cincture will result in food reserves going back into the main parent plant and even if adequate roots develop in the marcot rootball, the marcot can die soon after removal from parent tree due to lack of food reserves.

Starches and carbohydrates begin to accumulate at the top of the cincture.  This encourages the development of a ring of callous at that point and provided moisture conditions and rooting media are correct, roots develop from this callous into the rooting media.
The first roots that appear are generally thick, corky, adventitious roots that are few in number and very fragile. In time, fibrous secondary roots develop from the primary roots.  It is important that marcots are allowed to remain on the parent tree until secondary roots are well developed.  This will vary depending on plant genus, species, variety and temperature.  Usually a minimum of 10 weeks to maximum 20 weeks is required for proper root development and sufficient food reserve accumulation.

MARCOTTING PROCEDURE Cincturing

The width of the cincture is generally 3-4 times wider than the branch diameter. A pair of adjustable pliers or multi grips are ideal for bark removal. Some species with very active cambium that tends to re-callous during the rooting period, need to be left for 1-2 weeks prior to wrapping with rooting media.  Alternatively the cambium can be removed by scraping or by using abrasive emery paper. Angular stems can be a problem as bark with associated cambium may remain in grooves.  Remove bark using a pointed instrument. Cincturing is best done when there is good sap flow as bark is easier to remove.

Rooting Media Type/Placement
Many different media may be used such as peatmoss, vermiculite, perlite, bagasse, leaf mould, clay and straw, well drained soil, coconut dust, rice hulls and raw sphagnum moss.  Any media that is well aerated but holds moisture is suitable. Generally, peatmoss or raw sphagnum moss mixed with varying amounts of vermiculite or peatmoss is used to obtain the correct physical properties for each particular plant species.  Sterile disease free materials give best results.  A rooting media that holds together is easier to use as less is lost during the plastic wrapping procedure.

Rootball size should be as small as possible relative to branch size to achieve success, e.g. a completed rootball of 12 cm x 8 cm is ideal when marcotting Lychee and Longan branches 1-2 cm in diameter with a total marcot branch length of 50-60 cm.  Too large a rootball will hold excess moisture that will inhibit root development and increase the weight on the parent tree that can cause limb breakage.
The placement of the rooting media is important.  Aim to have the top of the cinctured area in the top one-third of the rooting media.  This allows for some flexibility when wrapping rooting media onto branch.  Too low and the roots will not develop as the top tie will prevent root development.  Too high and the roots will not have sufficient room to grow.

Wrapping Methods The methods of ‘putting on the rooting media, plastic wrapping and securing vary greatly depending on personal preference and speed of operation required.

1.  Plastic sleeve – suitable for small numbers as this method is slow. The required size plastic sleeve is pulled down over top of branch, tied off below cincture, rooting media placed into sleeve, plastic sleeve is pulled up, media squeezed tight and plastic sleeves tied off above cincture. Approx. 25 per hour/200 per 8 hour day.

2. Split pre-filled plastic pouch and flap – lower pouch is filled with rooting media, pouch is placed around cincture, rooting media is pushed up and around branch.  Remaining plastic flap is wrapped around branch and fixed top and bottom using twist-ties. Approx. 45 per hour/350 per 8 hour day.

3.    Pre-filled plastic bags tied off with 30-60 cm twine – plastic bags 20×10 cm are pre-filled and the open end tied off with 60 cm of strong twine. The plastic bag is cut from twine knot along one side and down to bottom. Push rooting media up around branch, pull plastic either side of branch over and around rooting media.  Tie up using attached twine. Approx. 50 per hour/400 per 8 hour day

4. Jiffy 7 peat pot/alfoil wrap for mini marcots – Jiffy 7 peat pots are expanded in water and allowed to free drain.  Cut attached net lengthways along one side of Jiffy 7. Push peatmoss around branch wrap with pre-cut alfoil sheet – suitable for very small branches around  0.5 cm only.  Limited use – generally when propagation material is scarce.

TIME TO MARCOT
Marcotting can be carried out at any time of year so long as the bark is easily removed during the cincturing operation. Late spring-early summer is the best time provided mother plants are well grown and under irrigation if dry weather conditions are experienced at dust time of year.  Best root development occurs under diurnal temperature range 15-28 C depending on plant species. Ideally if marcots can be removed and grown on during the warmer summer months, root establishment is easier and plants are established before the onset of cool winter temperatures.  If dry springs and early summers are likely or if parent trees are not irrigated, it may be best to delay marcotting until mid summer or when rainfall is likely.  Excessive rain with extended periods of cloudy weather and low temperatures’ generally gives poor results.  The physical properties of the rooting media and thickness of plastic used may need to vary according to associated weather conditions experienced relative to time of year.

AFTER CARE
When removing mature marcots with very dry rooting media, place in water within 5-10 minutes of removal to avoid stress and possible root damage.  Trim leaves on marcot branch according to extent of root system development.  Trim any twisted roots and roots growing around and upwards before potting on.  Keep newly potted plant in high humidity atmosphere of at least 75-¬80% R.H. Avoid excessive watering of newly planted marcot but do not let potting media and/or marcot rootball to dry out.

Care must be taken with fertilisers and any applied nutrients during initial establishment period. Weak nutrient solutions or small amounts of longer term slow release fertilisers are safest for 3-4 months. Well developed soil roots take 3-6 months to develop depending on plant species and temperature.

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I recently froze some elderberries.  I use the flowers for on top of salads, cordials.  You can also make fritters with the flowers.     Ref: Diane

Elderberry and Passionfruit Wine to Make a Dry Red    by Bruce Chadfield

– 5L or 7L bottles – 2kg liquidised elderberries, preferably picked fresh, frozen, and then defrosted – 400g passionfruit pulp – 3.8L water   1kg sugar – 1/2 teaspoon red tannin powder

Add 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient, 1 tspn pectolitic enzyme, 1 tspn tartaric acid, 1 tspn citric acid, and   Gervin (Variety A) yeast

Sterilise a 20L container, preferably an esky with a tight-fitting lid, but make sure it is NOT airtight.  Pour the liquidised fruit into the esky.  A small amount of the water may be used to make the liquidising easier.  Bring the rest of the water and the sugar to the boil in a separate pan.  When boiling, pour over the fruit and close the esky.  Leave to stand for 12 – 24 hours, then add the yeast, the pectolase, the yeast nutrient, the tartaric acid, the citric acid and the tannin.  Leave to ferment for ten days, stirring twice a day with a clean wooden spoon.  The lid should be left on the esky at all other times. At the end of the ten days, strain the contents through a nylon bag into a sterile bucket, then transfer into sterilised demijohns (leave approximately 2 – 3 cm air gap between the top of the wine and the bottom of the bung), fit an air lock, half fill with water, and plug the other end of the air lock with a loose plug of cotton wool.  At this stage there will be more than 5L, so you will need to assess what quantity is left and put it into whatever container you have, such that there is a small air gap at the top, and an air lock can be fitted.  Leave to finish fermenting and partially clear for another three to six weeks, then siphon the clearer wine from the sediment and put the wine into a new sterilised 5L demijohn.  At this stage, there may or may not be a small amount of wine left over.  Again, put this into a small container to which an air lock can be fitted.  Leave wine to stand and clear for a further four weeks – it may take longer.  When the clarity you require is achieved and you are sure that there is no movement of the water level in the air lock (apart from that expected from contraction due to varying temperatures day and night), the wine can be siphoned into bottles and stored appropriately.

Elderberry wine, unlike many other fruit wines, is one wine that does seem to improve with age.

Elderberry champagne  Get a 10 litre bucket, add 10 elderflower heads, juice and rind of 4 lemons, 4.5 ltrs water, 1 heaped tsp of cream of tartar (can substitute white wine vinegar), 450gms of sugar, wash flower heads and grate lemon rind, place in bowl and add water, cream of tartar, sugar (dissolve it in hot water some of the water) Champagne can be drunk almost immediately but can keep for several weeks. Wait until the bottle goes firm before you start to drink which usually is around 3 days but don’t leave it for more than a few weeks otherwise the bottle can blow!! Don’t use glass bottles for this reason – only soft drink bottles.

You can also substitute rose petals for the elder flowers and I’ve also used citrus too.

Homemade Wine using Silver Birch
I drilled holes in all my Silver Birch trees and put a piece of garden hose in the hole and put a 2 litre plastic soft drink bottle on the other end of the hose and in 2 days and I made wine following a recipe in a book.

Rice Wine
I put rice through the coffee grinder and made rice wine and it was potent! Neither Regina nor myself drink so I don’t make wine anymore.

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The Mongongo tree Schinziophyton rautanenii is a member of the family Euphorbiaceae and of the monotypic genus Schinziophyton. A large, spreading tree, the Mongongo reaches 15-20 metres tall. It is found on wooded hills and amongst sand dunes, and is associated with the Kalahari sand soil-types. The leaves are a distinctive hand-shape, and the pale yellow wood is similar in characteristics to balsa, being both lightweight and strong. The yellowish flowers occur in slender, loose sprays. Known as Mongongo fruit, Mongongo nut or manketti nut, the egg-shaped, velvety fruits ripen and fall between March and May each year, and contain a thin layer of edible flesh around a thick, hard, pitted shell. Inside this shell is a highly nutritious nut. The Mongongo is distributed widely throughout southern Africa. There are several distinct belts of distribution, the largest of which reaches from northern Namibia into northern Botswana, south-western Zambia and western Zimbabwe. Another belt is found in eastern Malawi, and yet another in eastern Mozambique. Mongongo nuts are a staple diet in some areas, most notably amongst the San bushmen of northern Botswana and Namibia. Archaeological evidence has shown that they have been consumed amongst San communities for over 7,000 years. Their popularity stems in part from their flavour, and in part from the fact that they store well, and remain edible for much of the year. Dry fruits are first steamed to soften the skins. After peeling, the fruits are then cooked in water until the maroon-coloured flesh separates from the hard inner nuts. The pulp is eaten, and the nuts are saved to be roasted later. Alternatively, nuts are collected from elephant dung; the hard nut survives intact through the digestive process and the elephant does the hard work of collecting the nuts.[1] During roasting of the nuts, direct contact with the fire is avoided, using sand to distribute the heat evenly. Once dry, the outer shell cracks easily, revealing the nut, encased within a soft, inner shell. The nuts are either eaten straight, or pounded as ingredients in other dishes. The oil from the nuts has also been traditionally used as a body rub in the dry winter months, to clean and moisten the skin, while the hard, outer nut-shells are popular as divining “bones”. The wood, being both strong and light, makes excellent fishing floats, toys, insulating material and drawing boards. More recently, it has been used to make dart-boards and packing cases. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongongo

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Growing Berries in Brisbane                   query from Bernie Doran

At our last meeting, it was mentioned that Boysenberries don’t fruit up here – that they needed cooler weather. I had some a couple of years ago and got a few fruit from them. They are very hardy and still come up in the grass. What about other similar berries like Loganberries? I saw some Thornless Blackberries at the BOGI show last year; do they grow and fruit here? We get a few light frosts each year.

Replies from Members
George Allen  Warn of the possible risk of weediness. The thornless ones would always be an attractive option. Some are marginal in our climate but can still produce fruit.
Sheryl Backhouse   I put in a native Raspberry many years ago. It was a nightmare. It suckered like crazy and when the seeds blew in the wind, we had plants popping up everywhere!  It took Bob about 5 years to kill it off …. and that’s using Round-Up but we’re all different and by your replies, lots of you like growing berries! 
MaryAnn Baker We have Boysenberry, Loganberry, Thornless Blackberry, Raspberry (native and non-native), 4 types of Blueberries all doing well – no frosts here but most are planted on the south side of the shed so rarely get any sun! Raspberries and Blackberries are planted on the fenceline near the cattle paddock so they get eaten by the cows on one side and the road keeps the others in check so not sure how invasive they are – do have friends who grow them in big concrete pots as they think they will be invasive if allowed into the ground.  I also grow Tayberry and Goji  and am looking for Cossock Pineapple Ground Cherry.

Chris Bourke

Probably the majority of the berry family is out of its climatic comfort zone here. The boysenberry was grown in southern NSW where I grew up – Batlow – a cool climate apple growing region. One grower had several acres of them and I once spent my school holidays picking them – 25 pounds is what I earned as a 12 year old in 1963! 

Greg Daley – www.daleysfruit.com.au

We can grow and crop Boysenberries in Kyogle. Also the Thornless Youngberry seems to crop OK in Subtropics.  We do get frosts. I would think that the Boysenberry and Youngberry will crop in Brisbane in cooler regions or where the microclimate is shaded in winter to increase chill hours. I haven’t found them weedy in the subtropics, maybe because they are marginal in climatic requirements – probably more a problem in colder areas. The blackberry is definitely a weed issue in cooler climates. Brian Dobeli I have the Thornless Boysenberry and Youngberry and get enough fruit to make them worthwhile. I lift up new runners every now then so they don’t set roots so it’s not a weed problem at my place Richard Bull    I have a trellis of boysenberries (in flower and young fruit at present).  Our place at Tamborine Mt is 600m elevation and they fruit and grow well in our cool climate.  Paul Thorne has some at Shailer Park which is only about 150m above sea level and a lot warmer than Tamborine Mt and they do reasonably well there. Brisbane may be getting a bit warm and may be borderline – but worth a go, as the fruit are so delicious. The vines need to be trellised and tied onto horizontal wires and are extremely prickly. They sucker a lot from shallow roots, so best to plant in a bordered bed to limit where the young suckers come up. However, when about 10-15cm tall, these suckers have a good root system and can be dug up, cut from the parent root and potted or replanted.  Also, long lateral canes (up to 5m) will drop to the ground and immediately sprout roots, so keep the ends of laterals off the ground.  If you direct a lateral tip into a pot of soil it will take root and you can cut off a couple of metres of the lateral to make a really advanced vine for re-planting. I can pot up a number of suckers at present if any members would like some plants. Could bring to December meeting or for pick up if any members wish to have a nice visit to our mountain.

Mal Fairley

Atherton Raspberries and Kerryberries grow extremely well in Wamuran, near Caboolture.  Both are weedy (need regular attention).   Raspberries are grown intensively by commercial growers around me. Note we have not had a frost here in at least 8 years.

Annette McFarlane I tend not to suggest any cane berries to gardeners because they are so vigorous and hard to control. I have had both raspberries and blackberries fruit here, but not as prolifically as they do at higher altitudes or further south.

Anne Osbourne I have Youngberries fruit here, they are fruiting at the moment. Youngberry is a hybrid between three different species from the genus Rubus, the raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries of the rose family. I have also had Loganberries fruit here. Loganberries are a hexaploid hybrid produced from pollination of a plant of the octaploid Blackberry cultivar ‘Aughinbaugh’ by a diploid red raspberry. Bosenberries are a cross between the European Raspberry, a European blackberry, an American dewberry and the Loganberry. So it is possible that Boysenberries will also fruit here. It can get down to as low 5°C on occasion but rarely freezes.

Raewyn Roach

We’ve been growing the Tropical Raspberry very successfully at Noosa for many years but they don’t like Cherry Tomatoes growing anywhere near them!  You can either trellis them or grow them nine canes to the square metre.

Matthew Synnott

I grew a Kerriberry very well but eventually lost it – it had very nice tasting fruit.  Looks like they are available from Daleys.

Graham Yeoman of Tallegalla Fruit Tree Nursery  –  www.tallegallafruittrees.com.au

In reference to your inquiry on berries, we have had Boysenberries growing and fruiting at our property here at Tallegalla, however, they are very prickly to handle and I was always concerned about them becoming a garden escapee if they were not maintained.  For this reason we no longer keep them in stock.   I would recommend your member look at either the Thornless Youngberry or Loganberry as an alternative fruit as to me they taste very similar and are far easier to handle and maintain.  As with any of the berries in this group, they are a bramble and will root down and spread very easily which can add to the weed potential if bushes are not maintained properly. We currently have a limited number of both Youngberry and Loganberry in stock if you need them.

Ramm Botanicals propagate by tissue culture – Rubus fruticosus x R. alleghaniensis (sub-genus Eubatus) ‘Thornless Blackberry’. This hybrid Blackberry bears richly flavoured fruit from mid-to-late summer. Add these healthy berries to fruit salad, your morning smoothie, Greek yoghurt or top your pancakes with them for a burst of flavour. Derived from high health, tissue cultured stock. Height to 2m. Width to 4m. Prefers well drained, slightly acidic, compost-rich soil and full sun position. Keep soil moist whilst plant is establishing and keep it mulched. Remove old canes in winter. Harvest when berries are ripe as they won’t ripen off the vine. Freeze or use immediately. Feed with a controlled release fertiliser in early spring. Self fertile. Train onto wires or a trellis. Still bears some thorns. Note: this hybrid is not considered invasive. (ref: www.ramm.com.au)

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Must We Eliminate Sodium from our Diets? I very much fear that the current eat-no-salt recommendations will induce lots of guilt but have very little effect on heart disease and stroke. (Did eat-no-fat succeed in preventing obesity?) Salt-fear, resulting in maternal iodine deficiency, is already putting newborn New Zealand babies at risk of permanent brain damage. Nutrition is a complex problem not aided by simple-minded formulas and knee-jerk mental attitudes. There is enormous evidence that by eating more potassium than sodium, most if not all of the damage from salt (sodium) can be prevented. (Excess sodium not affects not only blood pressure but also bone loss.) The evidence includes both short-term studies where potassium supplements were given for a month or so, and long-term studies where lifetime diets of hundreds of thousands of people were matched with their deaths from heart disease, stroke, and other causes. Consistently, high potassium intake was found to reduce or eliminate sodium damage. This evidence has been available for years, published in reputable peer-reviewed journals and summarised by such agencies as the US Center for Disease Control and the American Heart Association. Yet I have never seen any publicity that emphasizes the logic of eating high-potassium foods such as potatoes, silver beet, oranges, bananas, and sweet corn. The publicity machine has locked itself into a rigid anti-salt mode. After all, why give consumers the good news about potassium, when it’s much more rewarding to make us guilt-ridden for not overriding our inbuilt biological urge to eat salty foods. As a simple target, we should aim for twice as much potassium as sodium. For instance, 100 g of McDonald’s much-maligned chips contains 576 mg potassium and 233 mg sodium, a K:Na ratio of 2.5. For athletic young men who will burn off any excess fat from these chips, they are a healthy food! (People with kidney disease have to avoid potassium. That is not the case for most of us.) If you try to buy groceries with high levels of potassium, you will be dismayed at how many food manufacturers do not list the levels of this important nutrient. So much for any claims that they are genuinely concerned with our health!

Sheryl: Jay Mann is a professional plant biochemist. Since his retirement from Crop and Food CRI in 1993, he has been a consultant, preparing reviews on topics as diverse as ways to lower blood cholesterol, feedstuff composition, chicken flavour, and industrial use of enzymes. Food for people has been a lifelong interest. I met Jay many years ago when he was a speaker at a Skeptics Conference I was attending. He has written a book called “How to Poison your Spouse the Natural Way – A Kiwi Guide to Safer Food” Website: http://www.saferfoods.co.nz/ We called in to see him on our recent visit to NZ. 

Book Review from the web: One of the great myths of alternative medicine and the health food industry is that natural things are better than artificial or synthetic things because natural is natural and Mother Nature wouldn’t want to hurt us. Wouldn’t she just? Plants and animals have had many millions of years to evolve ways of protecting themselves against predators and competitors for resources. Humans have had about 100,000 years of hunting and gathering to evolve natural resistance and about 10,000 years of agriculture to breed out the nastiness, and these times are just not long enough to make much difference. We are surrounded by plants and animals which can do us great harm if we are not careful about what we eat, and also by a myriad of fungi which delight in making safe foods unsafe. The book is divided into three sections – “Dangers we should worry about but don’t”, “Things we worry about but need not”, and “Things we ought to know”. The first section is about the dangers out there which are often ignored because “natural is safe” or simply because people don’t know any better. Some of the warnings are well recognised, such as the dangers of rhubarb leaves and anything to do with oleander plants. Others, such as the dangers of moulds, are often ignored because they are secondary to the main event. An example would be a herbal medicine which is harmless if the herbs are kept dry but which can become deadly if it becomes mouldy through bad handling or storage. If you want to be really scared, think about saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin in seafood which can paralyse someone to the point where bystanders think that they are dead but which leave the victim fully conscious and aware of what is happening. This is the stuff of horror movies. The second section deals with irrational fears about chemicals. Much of the hysteria about genetically-modified foods, additives, preservatives and other ways man interferes with nature is based on ignorance or fear of the unknown. This is not to say that we should not be careful, but if you are eating in an Asian restaurant you probably should be more worried about zearalenone in the corn and chicken soup or aflatoxin in the sate than about the MSG in the sweet and sour sauce. The third section of the book gives a good explanation of how to interpret research and statistics, as well as some good advice about exercise. Some of this book will make you think very carefully about what you put into your mouth and some of it will reassure you, but I recommend it to anyone who wants to find out the reality of food dangers and safety.

Sheryl:  Jay passed away in 2019.