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Tawa
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Two words this week, both relating to New Zealand.
Tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa) is a tall evergreen tree in the laurel family. It bears sprays of pale green flowers which develop large, purple fruits resembling damsons or plums.
Image source
The fruit can be eaten, but is said to taste of turpentine! The stones, or kernels, can be roasted for food, and the bark used to produce a drink.
The timber is widely used for furniture and flooring.
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Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Tawa is also the South Asian name for a large, flat, circular griddle, used to cook chapattis and other flatbreads, and for frying meat, or paneer (often called ‘Indian cottage cheese’)
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
The second word is weta. Weta is a large, flightless brown insect in a group of about one hundred species in the grasshopper family. It is mainly nocturnal and omnivorous, often scavenging, though the giant and tree weta feed on lichens, leaves and fruit.
It is native to New Zealand, and has few natural predators but has fallen foul of introduced mammals. Consequently, some weta species are now considered critically endangered.
I would think the weta is mostly under threat by Australian possums, a very bad import to the country.
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ReplyDeleteI feel quite confident to comment here today Janice (as I live in New Zealand) - I have not eaten Tawa fruit, nor come across it but the wood is very beautiful & looks wonderful in furniture or especially flooring. Yes Weta's can be quite large - to me are scary looking creatures & especially when you are hurrying to the cowshed in the dark early hours of the morning & wonder what the large bump is inside your gumboot, only to remove it & find a large weta inside !!!!! Cannot print the words that were uttered!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Tawa leaves look like what I grew up with, the california bay laurels and they, too produce bay nuts that look similar to the Tawa nuts -they look like little avocados but taste like turpentine. They are distant relatives in the same botanical family, which includes laurels, avocado trees, and cinnamon. Interesting. I enjoy plant science.
ReplyDeletethat cute bug does look like it might be delicious...I would try it, if it hopped on my plate .
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