Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter — western seasons that seem a little innocuous in Tasmania.

A radically different delineation of Tasmania’s seasons was developed by her original inhabitants, the Pallawa people. They identified three main ‘seasons’: Pawenya Peena, Wengytellanyta and Tunna.

They are based on the appearance and disappearance of important foods.

Pawenya Peena commences with the blooming of the wattles. It is the time when the air is thick with their scents and honey is plentiful. This is usually late in July or in August and continues into September.

Wengytellanyta begins with the return of the Yolla (the shearwater or muttonbirds) to rookeries all around Tasmania in the third week of September. When the Yolla leave, Tunna begins.

This is the commencement of the coldest time of the year, from April until the wattle bloom again, sometime in August. Such a seasonal conception, based on actual events, rather than fixed calendar days, keeps people in touch with nature.

CHEESE FONDUE

2 cups (250g) diced Swiss gruyère cheese, dusted well with 2 rounded teaspoons cornflour
Clove garlic
3/4 cup (200ml) white wine

Put fondue pot on a tray — it will save a lot of mess and you can take it off the flame if it gets too hot without danger to the table. Rub the inside of the fondue pot with the cut clove of garlic. Add wine.

Heat until air bubbles start to rise. Over low heat, add the cheese, a handful at a time, stirring until melted before adding more. If the mixture is heated too fast it goes stringy, so take care, and remove from the heat from time to time.

Guests stir with pieces of torn-off French bread, which they then eat.

I have omitted the traditional teaspoonful of Kirsch because good Kirsch is so expensive, and bad so horrible.

CHOCOLATE FONDUE

250g (8oz) dark chocolate, grated
4 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup thick cream

Melt honey in a thick fondue pot, then add the chocolate. Stir, and add cream.

Stir over a gentle heat until smooth and melted, dip cubes of pound cake, or sponge fingers, etc, in this.

Carefree Cooking, Elizabeth Godfrey, 1978

Flathead is a popular recreational fisher’s catch. Good eating with sweet flesh.

They spawn in bays and inner continental shelf waters from September to February.

Beware spines on gills and fins.

Captain’s Catch

Cafe & Take Away, St Helens

Voted by Graeme Phillips (food writer), as Tasmania’s best fish and chips. Their batter recipe remains a closely guarded secret, originally coaxed from the chef of the QE2. The following recipe is a tried and true Tasmanian favourite.

SCALLOPS IN BATTER

1/2 cup self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt pinch pepper
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vinegar
500g cleaned scallops with roe removed because this ruptures during deep frying and causes fat or oil to spit dangerously.
Seasoned flour.

Put fat or oil on to heat over low temperature. (170°C).

Dry scallops very well. Sift flour and salt and mix to a thin cream with the milk and vinegar, and pepper. Coat scallops in seasoned flour then coat with batter. Fry in the fuming fat for about 4 minutes.

Lift out and drain on draining paper.

Serve with a garnish of lemon wedges and parsley sprigs. Do not overcrowd the fat when cooking the scallops and allow the fat to reheat before cooking next batch.

Central Cookery Book, 17th edition, 1992

Zeps

Restaurant and Cafe, Campbell Town

MIXED BERRY BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

10 fresh farm eggs
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup sugar
40g butter
1 cup mixed berries (any variety)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon fruit loaf (or panatone) cut into size of tin

Warm berries with sugar until they soften. Beat eggs, cream and cinnamon together. Layer thickish slices of fruit loaf with berries and egg mixture till baking dish is nearly full (2-3 layers).

Place dollops of butter on top. Bake at 180°C for 25 minutes till slightly brown.

Serve slightly warm with Meander Valley Double Cream and almond bread (optional).

Unique among Tasmania’s plant specific honeys is leatherwood honey. It represents 70% of our island’s honey production and attracts a premium price.

One of our major honey producers, The Tasmanian Honey Company situated at Perth, presents their leatherwood honey in an exquisite range of dramatically patterned presentation tins, a testament to the venerable contents within.

Leatherwood honey has its own very distinct characteristics of colour, flavour and aroma.

The leatherwood tree Eucryphia lucida is found primarily in the rainforest areas of southern and western Tasmania and usually flowers from December to March.

If it is a good flowering season, a hive can produce 90-100kg of honey. The nectar yield is correlated to the age of the trees. Many trees do not blossom till more than 70 years old, with most prolific flowering from trees considerably older, hence the continuing dilemma between clear felling of old growth forests and loss of commercial nectar producing stands of flowering leatherwoods.

Read more about this ongoing battle here.

Tasmania’s dairy industry is primarily comprised of dairy cows, with a small contingent of goats and sheep.

The high rainfall areas of the north-east, Meander and north-west with lush grass and clover pastures are home to the majority of the dairy cow herds.

Less than 10% of our milk production is actually consumed as a beverage. The balance is manufactured into cheese, milk-related products and butter. And chocolate, lots of chocolate …

Our long, slow growing season ensures not only plump, vibrant and glossy berries, but true to type taste and perfume … the whole package! Beware of the blackberries that line our country lanes. Classified as a noxious weed, they have probably been sprayed.

Raspberries, members of the rose family, had been traditionally grown for processing, but as with many of our berries, the demand is now well and truly for fresh table fruit, due to their exceptional eating qualities. The exception to this are red and black currants, which are grown predominantly under contract for processing.