Most of today’s uses are based around making a roasted hazel nut flavour from the seed, by roasting the raw wattle seed. This new unique flavour has many uses, coffee-like beverages (caffeine free), essences, beer, baking, confectionery, dairy, sweets, confectionary and marinades.
Over the past few years even the pod/husk of the wattle seeds have been researched for its medical properties, in the fight against cancer.
Traditional Aboriginals used wattle seeds in arid regions of Australia as a food source. Occurring in all main land states.
Women would collect seed pods from the trees when ripe, separate seed ‘yandy’ clean in a wirra. Parch by fire, pound and ground into a flour. Mix water with flour to make a dough. This was placed in fire coals/ash to get a Johnny cake. Green pods fully formed were also lightly roasted and the seeds eaten.
In Plentiful times seed could be stored away, it has a very hard seed coat. From the legumaceae family it has a pea flavour. Having a high protein level approx 17%, carbohydrate 41%, fibre 29%,fat 3 % (Brand & Cherikoff 1985) and a low GI average 1480+270 KJ /100gms (Brand & Maggire 1992).
