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Pistachio

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Pistachio

Pistachios do not need a nutcracker – the nut cracking is already done for you!

  • Pistachios are an edible, ovoid nut, encased in a shell, and are native to some Middle Eastern countries, as well as some neighbouring countries in Asia and Europe, and they have been cultivated for thousands of years.
  • The pistachio plant that the nuts grow on, is generally a small tree with the scientific name Pistacia vera, from the family Anacardiaceae, the family of cashews, which also includes mangoes and pink peppercorns; and once ripe, the nuts are shaken from the tree as part of the harvesting process.
  • A single pistachio tree can reach up to 10 metres (33 feet) in height, and can produce approximately 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of nuts over a period of two years, and one year is generally a high yield year, while the other year produces a lower quantity of nuts.
  • Pistachio nuts are small, generally ranging from 1.5 to 2.2 centimetres (0.6 to 0.87 inches) and weighing roughly 1 to 2 grams (0.03 to 0.07 ounces), with the shell intact.
  • When ripe, the hard shell of pistachios will commonly crack and split halfway while still inside the hull, which is removed after harvesting, allowing access to the edible kernel without the use of a nut cracker.

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  • The shells of pistachios are naturally coloured a pale sandy brown, however they may be artificially coloured green or red, a tradition first begun when hand pickers were used, to disguise any handling damage; while the kernel and its skin is usually a green to purple colour.
  • Generally, pistachios are eaten raw or roasted, often as a snack; are occasionally added to desserts or used in baked goods, or added to icecream or chocolate; and they are commonly purchased already salted.
  • Iran, in the Middle East, was the greatest producer of pistachios in 2013, producing more than half of the world’s annual quantity, with 478,600 tonnes (527,566 tons), while it is said that China is the greatest consumer at 80,000 tonnes (88,185 tons) annually.
  • Along with causing reactions in those people who are allergic to tree nuts, pistachios are susceptible to a mould that can be dangerous to human health, if not harvested quickly and correctly.
  • Pistachios are very high in vitamin B6, thiamine, copper, manganese, phosphorus, protein, fibre and fat, and they contain many other vitamins and minerals.

 

Bibliography:
Pistachio, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistachio
Pistachio Nuts Benefits, Side Effects, Nutrition Value and Facts, n.d, Seed Guides, http://www.seedguides.info/pistachios/
Some Physical and Mechanical Properties of Pistachio Nut, 2007, National Centre for Agrarian Sciences, http://www.agrojournal.org/13/02-12-07.pdf

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Sydney Funnel-web Spider

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Sydney Funnel-web Spider

You do not want to come into contact with a Sydney funnel-web spider.

  • Sydney funnel-web spiders are venomous arachnids, endemic to the developed and forested habitats of the Sydney area, in Australia’s state of New South Wales.
  • The scientific name of Sydney funnel-web spiders is Atrax robustus and it is from the family Hexathelidae, a family of funnel-web spiders, and they are also commonly known as ‘Sydney funnelweb spiders’ or simply ‘funnel-web spiders’.
  • The body of a Sydney funnel-web spider generally grows to be 1.5 to 3.5 centimetres (0.6 to 1.4 inches) in length, and males are usually smaller than females.
  • The Sydney funnel-web spider is coloured brown, black, dark purple or navy and it has a shiny cephalothorax (head and thorax), and a hairy abdomen and legs.
  • Sydney funnel-web spiders will easily dehydrate in sun, and thus require rest in moist, shaded areas during heated parts of the day.
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Sydney Funnel-web Spider
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
  • The venom of Sydney funnel-web spiders can be fatal to primates, including humans, causing negative effects towards the nervous system, and mature males are more potent than females and young spiders.
  • An anti-venom for Sydney funnel-web spiders surfaced in 1980, devised in Melbourne’s Commonwealth Serum Labs by a team led by Australian Struan Sutherland, which was first used in January 1981, saving the life of Sydney patient Gordon Wheatley, after he was bitten.
  • A Sydney funnel-web spider will display its particularly large fangs and rear on its hind legs when feeling endangered, potentially striking with a number of bites.
  • The Sydney funnel-web spider lives in sandy or earthy burrows, typically with a funnel or conical shaped entrance that it surrounds and lines with a silk web that acts as a trip wire, which notifies the spider of its potential meal of insects, small reptiles and amphibians.
  • Sydney funnel-web spiders can survive in water for up to 24 hours or more, as the hairs on their legs and body produce air pockets, and as such, they can be found alive in domestic swimming pools.
Bibliography:
Gray M, Sydney Funnel-web Spider, Atrax Robustus, 2015, Australian Museum, http://australianmuseum.net.au/sydney-funnel-web-spider
Sydney Funnel-web Spider, 2010, Australian Reptile Park, http://www.reptilepark.com.au/animalprofile.asp?id=126
Sydney Funnel-web Spider, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_funnel-web_spider

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Flying Duck Orchid

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Flying Duck Orchid

The flying duck orchid is a bit of an impersonator.

  • Flying duck orchids are perennial plants of small size, native to areas in the south and east of Australia.
  • The scientific name of flying duck orchids is Caleana major and it is from the family Orchidaceae, the family of orchids.
  • Flying duck orchids typically bloom between September and January and the flowers range in length from 1.5 to 2.5 centimetres (0.6 to 1 inch).
  • The flowers of flying duck orchids are usually coloured a deep red to purple, with some parts green, and have the appearance of a duck in flight, and compared to most other orchid flowers, sit on the plant upside down.
  • One of the first specimens of a flying duck orchid obtained by Europeans was from where the Sydney Opera House of Australia sits, located at Bennelong Point in Sydney, retrieved in 1803.
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Flying Duck Orchid
Image courtesy of Doug Ford/Flickr
  • Flying duck orchids are pollinated by insects such as sawflies, that are attracted to the flower and are temporarily trapped to collect and transfer pollen.
  • Flying duck orchids are extremely difficult to grow or propagate, thus they are virtually exclusive to woody forests or shrubby habitats.
  • The height of flying duck orchid plants can reach 50 centimetres (20 inches), and they grow from a tuber and have long narrow leaves.
  • The flying duck orchid was pictured on a 90 cent Australian postage stamp, released in 1986, as one of a set of four stamps featuring Australian orchids.
  • Due to what seems to be a lack of pollinating insects, as well as habitat destruction, the flying duck orchid plant is listed as vulnerable in the state of South Australia.
Bibliography:
Australia’s Most Popular Orchid, n.d, NOSSA, http://nossa.org.au/tag/flying-duck-orchid/
Caleana major, 2014, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caleana_major
Flying Duck Orchid, 2015, AuseMade, http://www.ausemade.com.au/fauna-flora/flora/magnoliophyta/liliopsida/asparagales/orchidaceae/caleana-major/caleana-major.htm
Large Duck Orchid, 2008, Adelaide Department of Environment and Heritage, pa-fact-pafactcaleanamajor.pdf

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Calendar

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Calendar

Flip the calendar over to a new year.

  • Calendars are a form of keeping and documenting time using a periodic system, often with paper or in modern times, electronics.
  • The term ‘calendar’ originates from the Latin word ‘calandae’, or ‘kalandae’ which can be translated as ‘moon’, which was noted as Ancient Rome’s first day of each month.
  • The movement of the sun and/or moon are the most common basis of a calendar, and this was also common throughout ancient history, however, there have been as many as 80 dating systems in history (some only with slight variants to others), due, in part, to discrepancies with natural cyclic events and the established yearly schedule, religious observances, and culture.
  • The international, and most commonly used, modern 365 day calendar, known as the ‘Gregorian calendar’, first surfaced in 1582 AD, introduced by Ugo Boncompagni, better known as Pope Gregory XIII, which is based on the Julian one that was adopted in Rome around 45 BC under the rule of Julius Caesar.
  • Calendars typically feature some combination of years, weeks, months, weekdays and days, and weeks may begin on Sunday or Monday.

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  • The Gregorian calendar was originally used by countries influenced by Roman Catholicism, expanding in use though the modern society by the 1800s to the 1900s.
  • Calendars can be purposed for the marking and reminding of events; and some religions have versions separate to the modern form, for their own purpose.
  • Some of the first known calendars originated in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Babylonia in the Middle East, and while most of the world has now adopted the Gregorian structure, as of 2015, there were still a handful of countries which had not.
  • Physical calendars are often displayed in rows and columns, and depending on the form, they may be displayed on a wall, on a magnetic surface, in a book, or on an electronic device; and often one month, day, or week is displayed per page.
  • Depending on the calendar system used, months, weeks and years may differ in length (counted in number of days), while the Gregorian system uses seven day weeks; month lengths of 30 or 31 days except February which generally has 28 days; and a year of 365 days, except every four years when a leap year occurs, where February has an extra day.
Bibliography:
Calendar, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar
History of the Calendar, 2007, infoplease, http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0002061.html
History of the Calendar, n.d, History World, http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac06

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Ilha de Queimada Grande

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Ilha de Queimada Grande

Ilha de Queimada Grande may not be the best place for a peaceful holiday.

  • Ilha de Queimada Grande is a Brazilian island of small size with no inhabitants, found in the ocean near São Paulo, Brazil, in South America.
  • ‘Ilha de Queimada Grande’, literally ‘great burnt island’, is also known as ‘Snake Island’ and ‘Queimada Grande Island’.
  • At its highest point, Ilha de Queimada Grande reaches 206 metres (676 feet), and covers an area of 430,000 square metres (514,000 square yards).
  • Ilha de Queimada Grande features a lighthouse that was first used from 1909 to warn passing ships of the island, however it was automated just over a decade later.
  • The environment of Ilha de Queimada Grande ranges from grassy clearings to rainforest, spread across rocky terrain, and the island’s name is said to be a reference to the original practice of burning vegetation in readiness for a banana plantation there.
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Ilha de Queimada Grande
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
  • The Golden Lancehead (Bothrops insularis), a critically endangered snake considered one of the deadliest on earth, is only found on Ilha de Queimada Grande, and there are an estimated 2000 to 4000 snakes of this species.
  • Two shipwrecks of merchant watercraft lie in the waters surrounding Ilha de Queimada Grande, wrecked in 1893 and 1933 respectively.
  • There are a number of species of snakes on Ilha de Queimada Grande, and the animal is in abundance, ranging from one to five snakes per square metre, making it a dangerous place to visit.
  • There are a number of bird species, as well as spiders, amphibians and lizards, that occupy or visit Ilha de Queimada Grande, some of which are eaten by the snakes.
  • The lighthouse operator once lived on Ilha de Queimada Grande, but since its automation, the Brazilian Government banned all visits to the island unless coordinated by credited scientists.
Bibliography:qq
Área de Relevante Interesse Ecológico Ilhas Queimada Grande e Queimada Pequena, 2015, Wikipedia, http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Área de Relevante Interesse Ecológico Ilhas Queimada Grande e Queimada Pequena
Geiling N, This Terrifying Brazilian Island Has the Highest Concentration of Venomous Snakes Anywhere in the World, 2014, Smithsonian, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/snake-infested-island-deadliest-place-brazil-180951782/
Ilha de Queimada Grande, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande
Snake Island – Ilha de Queimada Grande, 2015, Atlas Obscura, http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/snake-island-ilha-de-queimada-grande

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Suet

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Suet

Suet is not always easily obtainable, and is not interchangeable.

  • Suet is a food item derived from the fat of animals such as sheep and cattle, and when fresh it is a white colour.
  • Suet is typically the hard fat from around the animal’s kidneys, and is unlike other fat found on the animal, so other animal fat alternatives should not be used.
  • Suet can be an ingredient in pastries and deep-fried dishes, an ingredient in traditional Christmas puddings and others, as well as fruit mince, and it is often found in traditional British recipes of this kind.
  • Suet is used to create a light and spongy texture in food, due to its higher melting temperature that helps to build structure and creates pockets of air in the partially cooked mixture, and as such, it is best if it is not substituted with any other fat.
  • If temperatures exceed 45° to 50° Celsius (113° to 122° Fahrenheit), suet beings to melt, a temperature higher than most other fats, and it starts to solidify at temperatures between 37° and 40° Celsius (98.6° and 104° Fahrenheit).

Suet, Meat, Leg, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Meat, Fat, Christmas Pudding

  • As suet is an animal product, it needs to be stored in the refrigerator, or frozen if long storage times are required, and for cooking purposes, it is usually grated or minced before adding to a recipe.
  • Suet can be made into bird feed, often in the form of tallow, and has been made into soap, leather cleaners and lamp fuel in the past.
  • Suet is very high in cholesterol, fat and calories, which has led to its use in the diets of some explorers in history, to contribute to the large energy intake needed in freezing weather conditions.
  • Among the first mentions of suet as an ingredient, was a recipe of a pudding cooked for the members of Cambridge University in 1617.
  • Vegetable shortening and frozen butter can be used as a somewhat passable alternative for suet; however the flavour will differ, and the texture is likely to be more dense and oily.
Bibliography:
Akis E, How To Replace Suet in Christmas Pudding, 2012, Times Colonist, http://www.timescolonist.com/life/how-to-replace-suet-in-christmas-pudding-1.10199
Carter K, Suet, Part two: What it is, What it isn’t, and What to Look For., 2013, Savoring The Past, http://savoringthepast.net/2013/01/21/suet-part-two-what-it-is-what-it-isnt-and-what-to-look-for/
The Secrets of Suet, Shredded and Otherwise, 2010, Pacdon Park, http://www.pacdon.com.au/2011/01/03/the-secrets-of-suet-shredded-and-otherwise/
Suet, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suet

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