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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April #52weeksofmemories

 13. Sharing

The start of April may have been shorty nightie weather, but now, at the end, it's definitely time to get the flannies out!

I froze some muntrie berries I collected last month. I love using them in Hot Cross Buns instead of sultanas.

14.Easter 

Summer at the playground on Good Friday wearing a santa hat. Huh?

Easter Sunday evening, down the beach with family.

15. Reading
It is amazing how much Izzy has learned in the first term of school. We've been a bit slack with the reading in the holidays though.

16. Favourite
Some favourite photos from this week

Lake Mac in Autumn

My place in time #19

Something that was here 20 years ago.

One of the best local places to take kids to get out of the house for a walk around in nature. This is Lake McIntyre situated just on the outskirts of town.

It used to be a council sandstone quarry used for building the saleyards and local roads and streets. In 1991 a committee was formed to create this wonderful wetland.The water comes from the natural water table which rises and falls with the seasons.

The lake is home to, at one time or other, to around 80 different resident and migratory birds. Other animals you might see are tortoises, frogs, swamp rats, echidnas, possums, owls as well as snakes. This is why we don't go for walks around in the height of summer.  

I've been coming here with my kids for the past 20 years. It has become a beautiful place with the work of tireless volunteers in conjunction with the Wattle Range Council. We are so lucky, for such a small community to have such fantastic places like this, for us and tourists to visit.

We found a patch of muntrie berries, I took some home and used them in hot cross buns. This  native berry can be substituted for sultanas in cooking and salads.

So much birdlife around right now, these I think, are straw-necked Ibis. I only know
this from the birdwatching pamphlets at the information bay at the lake.

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.