Galeru increasing its range of rainforest products with Australian native tamarind. Not only hard to find in the wild, it is a threatened and protected species. Back when he began planting Galeru’s rainforest orchard in the Noosa hinterland, David was fortunate to obtain precious seedlings and now, after more than ten years, these trees may be the only commercial source of this unique fruit. Once again, Martha has found a way to utilise what would otherwise be unpalatable and make it into a delicious addition to yoghurt or ice cream. Its flavour is unique–like a blend of apricot and something elusive yet pleasing. For want of a better definition it is called “Native Apricot” and is proving very popular at festivals and markets.
Galeru Rainforest Products
August 26th, 2010
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Galeru raincherries coming your way!
August 12th, 2010
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David’s pioneer crop of Syzigium fibrosum planted in his rainforest orchard near Cooroy. It took five years for the trees to produce fruit. After their initial crop, the yields have been substantial.
From this Australian native fruit, Martha developed the unique RAINCHERRY (TM). The taste is unique and hard describe: sweet yet tart, they are delicious with yoghurt, ice cream and especially cheese. Galeru supplies them now to restaurants in Australia.Martha also made use of the raincherries (TM) to develop a snappy Rainforest Salsa which is proving popular.
Raincherries TM are unique to Galeru “Taste of The Rainforest”. Its growers are the sole commercial source of this delicious rainforest fruit. Both the Raincherries (TM) and Rainforest Salsa are now proving popular in the new Galeru retail packs.
In preparation for the next harvest, Martha is working on more ways to incorporate raincherries TM into her bakery products.
Rainforest Lemon Myrtle Cheesecake Recipe
June 24th, 2010
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Here’s a delicious baked New York-style cheesecake–with a rainforest twist. The rich creaminess of the filling contrasts with the crunchy texture of the base and the macadamia crumble topping. The subtle flavour of our beautiful native rainforest Lemon Myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) gives this cheesecake its unique taste.
For the base and crumble topping: 100g plain flour, 1cup castor sugar,150g macadamia nuts,100g butter (cold, cut into chunks), 1/2 tsp lemon myrtle (ground dried leaf)
For the filling: 1 cup castor sugar, 750g softened cream cheese, 4 large room temperature eggs, 300ml sour cream, 2 tsps pure vanilla essence, 1.5 tsps lemon myrtle (ground dried leaf)
Place the flour, sugar, macadamias and lemon myrtle in the bowl of a food processor. Process briefly until macadamias are ground into small bits, but still visible in the mixture. Add the cold butter, processing very briefly–only long enough for a crumbly texture–not a paste. Press 3/4 of the mixture into the base of a prepared 24cm springform pan. Refrigerate the remaining crumble mixture–to be used as the topping for the cheesecake.
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Place the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl and beat until smooth using the electric mixer on medium speed. Add the eggs, on at a time, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Slowly add the sour cream, vanilla essence and lemon myrtle while continuing to mix. Scrape filling onto the prepared base, smoothing the top. Bake for 1 to 1.5 hours, without opening the oven door, until the top of the cheesecake is a light golden brown. Turn the oven off. Open the oven door just long enough to scatter the reserved crumble topping evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Close the oven immediately, and let the cheesecake stand, undisturbed, for another 2 hours in the oven. The crumble topping will lightly toast while the oven gradually cools. Cool the cheesecake to room temperature, then chill in the fridge.
To serve, top with luscious Galeru Raincherries, for a true Australian rainforest dessert. Raincherries and ground lemon myrtle are available from Galeru.
Foodservice featuringRainforest Products from our Rainforest Orchards
June 19th, 2010
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On June 14th Galeru growers met at the Cohen’s Goomboorian plantation to tour the developing rainforest orchard and discuss our foodservice range, featuring Rainberries TM, Raincherries TM, Rainforest Salsa and Rainforest Chutney. Presently our clients include Restaurant Number 8 at Crown in Melbourne, the Hilton in Brisbane,Park Hyatt in Sydney, Kingfisher Resort on Fraser Island, Berardo’s in Noosa, to as far afield as the Boomerang Restaurant in Singapore and Coast, Hong Kong. The enthusiasm for our rainforest compotes, chutney and salsa among chefs - using them with pork, duck, quail, beef, in desserts and cheese platters - indicates their versatility and enhances their demand. As growers we have decided to focus on our unique foodservice range while promoting our retail sachets for corporate gifts. And, during our tour of the Goomboorian plantation we were heartened to see the excellent growth on the young Rainberries TM (Syzygium luehmannii) derived from carefully selected cuttings propagated by the University of Queensland at its Gatton Campus.
David and Martha with their Rainforest Products
July 22nd, 2010
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Yoghurts, cakes and drinks with unique Australian rainforest flavours, as they are presented at Farmers Markets, Festivals and Food Expos for the general public and chefs who may wish to avail themselves of the Galeru Food Service to sample or purchase. Should YOU happen to encounter our display at some function, we’d be delighted to offer you a taste. And, you can enjoy our popular gluten free “Jungle Crumble” snack as you wander on your way.
Rainforest Orchard Maintenance
July 16th, 2010
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There is far more to maintaining our Galeru rainforest orchards than simply providing the trees nutrition and harvesting their fruit. Evidently, the nutrition and care we have been providing this past decade was more than adequate, for now we have to thin out the trees so there will be ample sunlight for them to generate crops.
The canopy has grown so dense in one of our orchards, the sunlight could not penetrate. And, these past two years, there has been more rain here than during the previous eight years, prompting even more growth. It was not an easy decision to remove what had been planted with so much love and care, nevertheless we “bit-the-bullet” and through the month of June over 100 trees were culled from one orchard. Then we brought in a mobile wood-chipper to reduce much of the culled timber to mulch.
After days of feeding the wood-chipper and wielding the chainsaw on thicker branches (to make a lot of firewood) both Michael and I have discovered muscles we never knew we had. Mind you, Michael is about half a century younger than me so he can not complain.
Martha’s Rainforest Crumble
July 7th, 2010
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Rainforest Crumble is a sour cream cake with a ribbon of rain plum center and macadamia-cinammon crumble. The rain plum is the rainforest fruit known as Davidsonia or Oooray plum, grown and harvested in Galeru rainforest orchards in Australia. Martha’s exclusive recipe takes maximum advantage of the rain plum’s unique flavour to present a truly delicious crumble cake suitable for all occasions. To order, go to the Galeru website Gift Page.
Galeru Planters Get-Together
June 18th, 2010
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Galeru rainforest orchards are many hundreds of kilometers apart but their respective growers manage to get together at least three times a year to confer on propogating Australian native species for commercial crops; new products being developed from these species; latest research into the nutritious benefits of Australian rainforest foods and applications; harvesting techniques; tours of the orchards and updates on our delicious Australian native food and retail markets.
This June we are taking advantage of the Queen’s Birthday holiday to make the drive to Goomboorian in Queensland where David and Sandi Cohen have planted Syzigium leuhmannii that were propagated at Gatton University Campus, and Syzigium fibrosum.
From the leuhmannii we produce our “Rainberry TM” products, while the fibrosum are our famous “Raincherries TM.” We will feature some views of David and Sandi’s Cohen’s magnificent property in a coming blog.
More later, from David Haviland
Harvesting Fruit from Rainforest Orchards
June 3rd, 2010
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Harvesting Fruit from Rainforest Orchards.
Yesterday, while brush-cutting through “Hard Yakka”–the name designated to one of our Galeru rainforest orchards on on the property– I chanced on some huge Davidson plums lying amongst the weeds. This fruit fell from a Davidsonia pruriens which towers at least five meters above the dominant canopy and I did not expect to gain any crop from this Australian native rainforest species so early in June.
This year, it seems,the excess rainfall we have been experiencing has affected the yields of all native species. It will be interesting to see what occurs later in the year with our other crops.
Welcome to Chef Cass’s Galeru Blog
May 10th, 2010
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“During The Dreaming, Galeru (gah-LEH-roo) the rainbow serpent, unleashed his colourful coil across the sky, bringing rain to seed the land with life”.
Galeru Pty Ltd was formed in 2006 by three specialist producers to promote and sell exceptional quality food products which utilise native Australian rainforest fruits which they grow.
Galeru P/L is an outgrowth of the farm partnership of David Haviland and Martha Shepherd, who began planting native rainforest trees on their small farm in the Noosa hinterland in 1997. The delicious range of Galeru rainforest fruit products has been sold commercially since 2003.
In 2006, Martha Shepherd was chosen the Queensland and first Australian winner of the prestigious RIRDC Rural Women’s Award for her innovative proposal to develop a value chain management model for the Galeru enterprise.
The objective is to enable them to team up with other small growers, processors and other in a value chain to create a larger business opportunity for all.
Two of the grower partners are located in the Sunshine Coast QLD hinterland:
- David and Sandi Cohen of Goomboorian
- David Haviland & Martha Shepherd of Cooroy
They have been joined by
- Rus Glover & Gordon Northam – Woolgoolga Rainforest Products – located near Coffs Harbour NSW.
Our Commitment
As growers, we are committed to sustainable natural resource management, producing our products from native species that require minimal inputs above those the local climate and soils can provide. The orchards were designed in a poly-culture approach, and are farmed biologically rather than chemically.
It is our strong belief that the cultivation of native species provides social, environmental and economic benefits that will be important to Australian agriculture and horticulture now and into the future.
We share the commitment of all those who treasure our Australian natural heritage, by re-planting native trees and shrubs on land long ago cleared. From their leaves, fruits and nuts, we have developed rainforest products that are unique and exceptionally delicious, while creating a sustainable enterprise.
We invite you to sample Galeru’s bounty.
