Muntrie picking at Canunda

It's that time of year when we go out into the wilderness, well the Canunda National Park to get our annual feed of muntrie berries.

We headed out after searching for a few geocaches in Millicent(Izzy's favourite thing to do), and one at the Mayurra Wagyu tasting rooms gate, which is on the way.

Muntries are a native berry to our region, formally called Kunzea Pomifera. They would have to be my favourite native flower. They flower in Spring and the  sweet apple like berries are ready to pick now.

I've been bringing the girls out here to pick muntries since they were little. Izzy's a bit over it, but Summer still squats by a patch and eats her little heart out.

They're a bit dusty straight from the patch due to the white metal road, which was awfully corrugated after a lot of use over summer. This road has been well used by four wheel drivers in that time, to get to the beach and tracks that take them all the way to Southend or Carpenter Rocks in the other direction.

After my encounter at Lake McIntyre, I was wary of snakes, as we've seen plenty of brown snakes through here in the past from the safety of our car.

I wasn't long before we had enough muntries to take home, the kids were ready anyway. I've been eating them with my porridge in the morning and have frozen some for putting in hot cross buns closer to Easter. It has become somewhat of a tradition. Summer is already asking when I am making muntrie berry buns.

I took the stony back tracks home, meandering through rocky farming land and wind farms. I pulled up right next to a windtower, turned the car off and we listened to the mesmerising whoosh of the blades, before finding our way to Burkhills Lane and home again.

Izzy's photo of me, picking berries

Dusty muntries

The small amount of washed muntries I didn't freeze and my porridge in the pan, ready for the stove. 

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Muntrie Cheesecake

A couple weeks ago we went picking muntries at Canunda. They are really good eating just as they are, on a platter with cheese or cooked in muffins, or sauces for meats.

Crabapples are ready now on the trees, and I was reminded of a cheesecake a friend of Mums made this time last year with them. I wanted to make the same cheesecake with muntries.

Muntrie Berry Cheesecake

Base

2 cups crushed marie biscuits

2 tablespoons sugar or sugar substitute(I used Stevia powder)

100 grams melted butter or margarine

Mix all together and press into the bottom of a springform tin. Place in the fridge while you make the filling.

Filling

900 grams cream cheese, softened

400 grams sweetened condensed milk (I used Nestles 99% fat free)

4 eggs

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 and a half cups chopped muntrie berries

1 teaspoon lemon rind (if I could've found it locally, I would have used a teaspoon of lemon myrtle)

Preheat oven to 150C.

Beat cream cheese in a large bowl, until fluffy. Gradually add the condensed milk and beat until smooth.

Add eggs and lemon juice. Mix well.

Stir in muntries and lemon rind.

Pour over the crumb base and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until middle is set. Cool and place in the fridge to chill.

I candied some muntrie berries for the top. It's the first time I have tried to candy anything, it could have been a bit darker. Usually you'll see nuts done this way for cake and dessert toppings. 

Mine look a bit dodgy(practice makes perfect), but they were delicious little morsels that tasted just like mini toffee apples!

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Picking Muntrie Berries

Muntrie berries(or munthari), are an Southern South Australian native berry. Lucky for us they grow in abundance not to far away. We drove down to Oil Rig Square, picked a container full and walked to look at the thundering sea.

I love this place.