Bunya nuts (pt. 2)

Raw bunya nuts ready for roasting

Each nut requires a bit of bashing before it cracks

The trick is to hold the nut so it doesn't go shooting across the room

The trick is also not to hit your fingers.

All for that tiny little crack in the shell

The second part of our bunya nut saga would be when we had to crack them, roast them, and finally shell.  It's not as easy as you may think... the shells are pretty tough and even after roasting aren't that brittle, but we managed somehow.  It took a couple more hours, but when you eat them, it's totally worth it!

Roasted and shelled (and subsequently frozen.)

The verdict on roasted bunya nuts:  They are so tasty.  So tasty.  Sooooooo tasty.  They're delicious straight from the oven and seem sort of like a potato and chestnut hybrid.  A bit starchy - the texture reminds me of plantains.

For our first bunya dish we added chopped nuts to sautéed mushrooms and braised them with New England Brown Ale.  We've also added them to our minestrone a couple times, which is really good.  I've been making bunya nut pesto for the Keeping Place which is so tasty I want to eat it with a spoon.

The only sad thing about our bunya nut adventures is that we only have about 370 grams left in the freezer ... when we run out, we run out.  Bunya nuts aren't commercially produced or very common in these parts.  It might be worth taking a trip up to Queensland someday and look for some roadside stalls or try out some local markets.  Who knows - we might get lucky.