Kiwi bird Pukunui passes away in Japan, leaving no more Kiwi bird in Japan

There was news report in Japan that the last remaining kiwi, named "Pukunui" passed away in Japan. 

The original source describes that "The national bird of New Zealand, Kiwi. In Japan, Tennoji Zoo (Osaka, Japan) was the only zoo with kiwi birds. The last kiwi at the Tennoji Zoo, Pukunui, was announced dead on 5th August 2024". 

BuzzNewz (Japanese site) 

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/3b03b6f52869b8762358bb8077f73d9b5cabbbe5

Oh no!! NO KIWI birds in Japan. 

While animal enclosures at zoo is a topic for debate for animal ethic reasons, it is also true that animals from other countries are a wonderful way to educate people about different countries. For example, Japan pays a significant amount of "rental fee" to China each year to have Panda in Japanese zoo. I imagine kiwi birds were sent to Japan too as embassedor to culturally connect Japan and New Zealand. 

Pukunui, the kiwi bird which passed away, was 36-year-old. According to Sankei news, Pukunui was a female kiwi bird, born in 1988 in New Zealand, arrived in Japan in July 1991. 

Original article Sankei News (Japanese) https://www.sankei.com/

This is such a long time ago and I had no idea that kiwi birds live so long. Pukunui was paired with another male bird "Jun" which had passed away at 42-year-old, in July this year. So two were a pair for a long time together, and died almost together. 

This is apparently equivalent of 70-80 year-old human. Staff at Tennoji Zoo must have looked after Pukunui and Jun very well, to live well until the old age. 

Wild life conservation is a very important matter and keeping the native animal (e.g. Kiwi) in captivity in another country may not be possible. But As a Japanese, it's a little sad that Japanese children will no longer have options to see Kiwi birds in Japan and hope that there are other opportunities/means for them to learn about amazing kiwi birds their home country, Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Chestnut Picking Season In New Zealand!

The day is getting shorter, and temperatures are starting to drop in Auckland.

That means... Autumn is here!

Autumn means all sorts of yummy autumn harvests will become available... including chestnuts!

So we have been looking around for chestnuts, and found some places we can go to pick fresh chestnuts.

When is the Chestnut Picking Season in New Zealand?

Chestnut picking season in New Zealand is autumn, around mid-March to mid-April.

It may change depending on the weather for the particular year, but usually mid- to late-March is a good season for them in North island.

And... chestnut picking season is actually quite short compared with other fruit like citrus, only lasting about a month, or sometimes only a few weeks.

So if you want to pick your own chestnut, you got to be keeping close eyes on these chestnuts trees once the end of summer approaches... otherwise, they might all fall and be gone before you even notice them!!

If you want to go pick your own chestnut at established chestnut farms, starting collecting information once March begins!

Where to Pick Fresh Chestnut: Local Parks?

So where are chestnuts trees.... ?

Some people have chestnut trees in their garden. You can also find some chestnuts trees in public parks and reserves.

We found some chestnut trees in our local, west Auckland park: Tui Glen Reserve！

Tui Glen Reserve is an awesome park for children with a lot of outdoor play toys.

But this park also has a few chestnut trees, and they were starting to drop chesnuts around February.

This is a bit early than typical chestnut.... may be due to warm Auckland weather?

Some of chestnuts are really small, but some are edible size.

You cannot find that many, but if you are lucky enough to find some on the ground, they are sweet and yum!

Some small chestnuts found at the Tui Glen Reserve

You can always checkout the foraging map available online (see walnut article http://en.japakiwidaisy.com/2018/02/fresh-walnuts-picking-season-in-new.html).

There may be some known chestnut trees in nearby parks and public domains.

Chesnut Picking in New Zealand: Farms?

If if you want to pick your fresh chestnuts, in a large quantity enough to enjoy them... the best place to go is your pick-your-own chestnut farms!

There are a few places around, where owners have opened up their chestnut-farm for people to pick chestnuts and purchase them.

There isn’t a chestnut forest in the middle of Auckland... but comes close! Some places are only about one-hour drive from Auckland.

Here is a few places I found on the internet...

In Clevedon：Chestnut Charlies

http://www.nzchestnuts.co.nz/

Address：291 Monument Rd, Clevedon, Auckland 2582

Phone: 021-182-3030

Between Auckland & Hamilton, near Rangiriri：Chestnut Ridge Farmstay

http://www.chestnutridge-nz.com/index.html

Address：40 Moorfield Rd, Te Kauwhata 3782

Phone：027 250 0941

Could not confirm this place is still operating, but there’s one in Waiaupa: Chestnut Farm

169 Percy Millen Dr, Waiau Pa 2679

There may be other places not listed on the internet.

Many places sell chestnut you pick, at a good whole sale price (some times as cheap as 2~4 dollar per kilo!) .

Most places also ask you to bring your own bags for chestnuts.

Chestnut shells are very spikey so you might choose to bring gloves and good shoes, and even a tong to pick chestnuts with.

When you are making a plan for chestnut-picking, make sure to contact chestnut-farm first, to ask them about their open days (when chestnuts are ready), cost, and what to bring.

Once you know where and when to go chestnut picking, keep a good manner at the chestnut-farm, and happy picking!

Chestnuts in shells – spikey!!

You will be so happy after picking big chestnuts... yum!

Buying Chestnuts

If you do not care about picking up your own chestnuts, you can always purchase them.

Some Asian fruit & vegetable shops tend to sell them around chestnut season.

They are sold at much higher price than when you pick your own though.

Some chestnuts sold at shops may have been stored for a while and become a bit dry.

You need to carefully check chestnuts for how fresh they look, how dry they are or if they have any mold on them, before buying them.

In addition, sometimes people sell chestnuts from their farm/garden at local market or on trade website like trademe.

If you are lucky to find chestnuts for sale in these occasions, you can buy fresh chestnuts at very reasonable price.

So it is worth keeping eye out for chestnuts for sale around March ~ April.

How to Store Chestnuts

Freshness is very important for chestnuts; they are perishable food.

Chestnuts can be stored in the fridge for a few weeks easily; storing chestnuts for two weeks after picking them is said to actually improve the flavor of chestnuts.

But after that, gradually chestnut will go bad...

So what if you picked heaps of chestnuts and want to enjoy them over a long period of time?

Well for a long term storage, you may wish to freeze them in the freezer.

There are a few different ways of freezing chestnuts,

１．Freeze as is (in hard shell)- not very recommendable

First is to throw chestnuts in the freezer as is, with hard shells still attached.

While it is easy just throwing chestnuts in the freezer, it may be hard to peel them after they defrosted.

So I personally do not think this is a good idea...

２．Peel shells first, then freeze them – recommended

Many people freeze chestnuts after peeling outer shells and inner skin.

Peeling chestnut is a bit of tough work, as chestnuts shells are hard.

But once you peeled them then freeze them, it is much easier to used after you defrost them.

Over a long time of storage, your peeled chestnut may start to dry out, or change color.

To prevent this from happening, some people sprinkle in a bit of sugar in the same freezer bag as peeled chestnuts before freezing.

Sugar will lightly coat the peeled chestnuts, and help them stay good in freezer.

３．Cook Chestnuts in Syrup & Freeze – recommended

My favorite way of storing chestnut is first cook chestnuts in syrup (with a lots of sugar), then store chestnuts with plenty of syrup in freezer bag.

Even if you store for a long term in a freezer, chestnut will not dry out as they are inside syrup.

Thick sugar-syrup prevents ice crystals from forming and keeps chestnut in a good condition.

When it comes to eating, you can simply defrost them and enjoy them as is!

So We Picked and Ate Our Chestnuts!

So we already enjoyed some chestnuts we collected by going around parks...

First, we peeled shells off from chestnuts we picked.

Chestnuts skin is really hard, so it helps if you first soak chestnuts in hot water for a while; this softens outer shell.

I boiled a jug of water, and poured hot water onto chestnuts (raw), and left it until the hot water cools down enough for me to touch.

Then peel chestnuts with a sharp knife.

Still mostly raw – just softening skin by pouring hot water over them.

Once you peeled chestnuts clean, you soak them for 15-20 minutes in water with a pinch of salt.

This helps remove a bit of alkaline flavor (bitterness) from chestnuts. – an optional step (as chestnuts taste good as is), but supposed to make them taste even better.

Peeled chestnut

This time, I cooked chestnuts in a syrup.

In brief,

1. boil chestnuts in a pot of hot water with 1TBS of added vinegar – for about 15~20 minutes at low heat or until chestnuts are cooked.

2. drain and discard water – cool chestnut in a bowl.

3. place chestnut in a pot with water just enough to cover chestnut.

4. add sugar, approximately half the weight of chestnut (200~250g for every 500g of peeled chestnut)

5. cook at low heat for about 10 minutes – sugar will dissolve and water will become slightly thicker. Be careful not to burn the chestnut – or brown the syrup – cook at low heat!

Oh no, Burned it for the first try... still yummy though

Try again, this time successful sweet chestnuts in syrup! Yum!

Chestnut Picking in New Zealand Summary

• Chestnut picking season in NZ: Mid-March ~ April
• Chestnuts trees in parks/ or chestnut farm!
• Freeze them to enjoy them longer!
• Chestnuts in sweet syrup ... yum!

Hopefully 2018 would be another great year for chestnut picking....

Happy Chestnut-picking & eating!

Fresh Walnuts Picking Season in New Zealand!

Time passes so quickly, February 2018 is almost over.

In New Zealand, it is end of summer now, and is a season for fresh walnuts.

Have you foraged this season’s walnuts yet?

Walnuts Picking?

Yes walnuts!

They can be roasted to eat as is, or can make an awesome addition to any baking foods like cookies, muffins or cakes.

Alternatively, roasted walnuts can be added to salad or stir-fry.

They are rich in vitamin E and unsaturated fat, making walnuts really healthy food for our body.

But when you have been only buying bagged walnuts out of shell, we tend not think about where they come from.

Walnuts are seed (or core) part of green fruits that grows on a walnut tree.

When the fruit matures, green fruit naturally drop from the tree.

As the fruit start to get rotten, the inside (walnut shell) becomes exposed.

At this timing, if you visit your local walnut tree, you can pick many natural, fresh, organic walnuts from under the tree!

And this season is usually around February in New Zealand.

Where Can I Find Walnut Tree?

Walnuts tree can be found in various places in New Zealand.

Some people have them in our garden, but if your garden doesn’t have a walnut tree, then try looking for one in...

• Parks
• Roadside
• Car parks with lots of green areas surrounding it
• Garden of churches and chapels

Walnuts tree typically grow really tall, so you are unlikely to find a walnut tree in a small park.

If there is a large park with many deciduous trees, you might find walnut trees, too.

Around February, walnuts trees would bear some green fruits, about size of kids’ fists on the tree.

Some are found fallen on the ground underneath the tree.

So looking for a tree with green fruits on it or underneath it around February may be the easiest way to spot a walnut tree.

Once you are used to finding a walnut tree, you will be able to spot them by looking at tree shape, skin and leaves.

Also, there are some “foraging” maps available online. You might decide to use these as a guideline to find our first walnut tree.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/84570132/foraging-in-new-zealand-how-to-find-free-fruit-in-your-city

As long as you adhere to basic manners and good practice, there should not be any problem picking walnuts off the ground.

But hurting the tree or shaking the tree to access fruits on the tree should not be tolerated.

Also, even if you spot a good walnut tree, if it is on someone’s private properly you must not access it without asking for a permission from the owner.

How to Pick Fresh Walnuts

In the right season, walnuts fruit will naturally fall – so all you have to do is pick them off the ground.

Green fruit on the left is the walnut fruit.

If walnut shell is fully exposed without any fruit, then it may have been there on the ground for too long.

If the walnuts feel very light or shell is very fragile, and it is most likely already rotten inside.

If the fruit outside walnuts shell is fully intact and really firm, then the fruit may have fallen prematurely and inside walnuts may not be very tasty.

Apparently, a good walnut is the fresh walnut shell with fruit still adhered on it, but the fruit outside is starting to rot and turned black.

But I guess, you just don’t know what comes out of the shell until you crack it open...

We picked ours with either some fruit attached, or fully exposed ones as long as they feel heavy and hard.

Try squeezing walnut with hand, if they crack easily then it is definitely rotten inside.

One thing to be careful is that, liquid that comes out of walnut fruit stains your hand brown.

They do not come off easily even after washing our hands with soap.

So if you do not want your hands to get dirty, you might want to use vinyl gloves to prevent the liquid from touching your skin.

Likewise, you should not wear your new, favorite cloth that you do not want get stained on.

Picked Some Walnut –!!

So we came home with a bag of walnuts from our local park.

Some looked quite fresh and had just fallen off the tree, while others looked like they had been on the ground for a while.

The park we went to had more than two walnut trees on site, and each tree produced walnuts with difference sizes.

We believe that we were a bit late for the season, as many good ones were already picked, and many rotten ones were left on the ground.

Some with fruit on, look really clean when outside fruit is taken off.

There are some tips and ways you can clean your freshly picked walnuts on the internet.

We washed ours in a tub of water and scrapped any adhered fruits from the nuts manually, using brush.

We then dried our walnuts under the sun for a while.

Look some are huge! I think they are from different variations of walnuts.

We just picked and prepared them like above, but we plan on cracking them open next, and either roast the content to eat them, or use them for cooking.

You could roast walnuts while they are in the shell, but this time we prefer to crack it open first so that we can get rid of rotten ones and select good ones for eating.

In our regular life, walnuts come unshelled in a plastic bag from the supermarket, normally.

So it was quite a new experience picking and washing our own walnuts. Our children enjoyed it too.

Now, it would be perfect once we manage to make a yummy walnuts cookies from these... !

Planting Walnuts to Grow Walnut Seedling...?

If you get a hold on fresh walnuts from the latest season, it may be fun to keep some for planting next spring.

Walnuts break out of dormancy and germinate in the spring after experiencing the cold winter.

So if you want to plant some walnuts, keep some good looking walnuts wrapped in wet paper, put them in a plastic bag and store in the fridge, then plant them into a pot next spring.

According to some sites on the internet, fresh walnuts has pretty good success-rate for germination.

If you keep several walnuts in the fridge for next season, the chance is that you will see at least one germinating and growing.

You need to be careful if you decide to plant walnut seedling into your garden, as a walnut tree grows into a very large tree in years time.

Walnut trees also produce and release a type of toxin from their roots, that prevents other plants from growing.

So while it would be a great fun to plant your self-picked walnuts in pots and watch them grow, you might want to keep them in pots and not directly planted in your garden.

We kept a few walnuts in our fridge to plant next spring.

It would be a fun experiment to do in the garden with children!

Summary

• February - Walnuts picking season in New Zealand!
• You can often spot walnuts trees in public parks
• Be careful picking walnuts trees as they can stain
• Keep some for germinating experiment, but planting directly into a garden requires some thought

Some people sell fresh walnuts from their garden on Trademe or on a road-side market around February so keep eye out for them if you want locally grown organic walnuts.

Happy walnut picking/buying/eating!

Enjoyed cherry blossom? Enjoy cherry leaves too!

Spring is here in New Zealand.

Until about last week, cherry blossoms around Auckland were in full bloom. So beautiful!

But when cherry blossom flowers finish and trees start to learn green…. you might wan to go back to cherry blossom tree again.

Because if you want to make edible pickled cherry leaves, now is your chance….