Recipe: Australia Day Fruit Punch

Australia Day Fruit Punch

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• measure :

  to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).

• whisk :

  to beat or stir ingredients vigorously with a fork or whisk to mix, blend, or incorporate air.

Let's Learn About Australia!

• Australia is both a country and a continent! The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country consists of the continent of Australia as well as the island of Tasmania and several other islands. 
• Australia is the oldest and smallest continent in the world. It is also the driest continent inhabited by people. (Antarctica is drier.) It is sometimes called the world's largest island. It is located in the southern hemisphere and is part of the Oceania geographic region, including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. 
• Australia, the country, is the world's sixth largest at 2,969,907 square miles. In comparison, the United States, at fourth largest, is 3,618,783 square miles—not a huge difference. However, Australia is 53rd in population, with close to 27 million people, compared with the US, which is 3rd with over 333 million people.
• The government of Australia is a Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. As a part of the Commonwealth of Nations and a former territory of the British Empire, the current monarch of the United Kingdom is also Australia's monarch. There is also a governor-general representing the monarchy, a prime minister, and a legislature or parliament. 
• The capital is Canberra. Sydney, on the east coast, is the largest city and the capital of the state of New South Wales. Melbourne, on the south coast, is the second largest and capital of Victoria. There are six states and three mainland territories in the country. 
• Australia has no official language, but English is the national and de facto (in practice) language. Australian English is the major variation with a distinctive accent and vocabulary. In 2021, 76,978 Indigenous Australians spoke 167 Indigenous languages at home. Before the country had contact with Europeans, 250 Australian Indigenous languages were thought to exist. 
• Indigenous Australians make up over three percent of the population. They consist of two groups: the Aboriginal peoples of the mainland and the Indigenous Melanesians of the Torres Strait Islands, who are also called the Torres Strait Islanders. 
• The geography of Australia includes tropical rainforests, mountain ranges, grasslands, coral reefs, and deserts. The Outback is an immense, remote, and sparsely populated region of the country. It covers an area of over two million square miles, or 81 percent of the country, and contains deserts, tropical savannahs (grassy plains), and temperate woodlands. 
• Uluru is a famous feature of the Outback that tourists flock to. It is a massive 1,142-foot-high red sandstone rock 5.8 miles around its perimeter.
• The Great Barrier Reef, on the north-east coast, extends over 1,400 miles and is the largest coral reef in the world. This beautiful but fragile area faces threats due to climate change, pollution, pesticides, shipping, and overfishing. Solutions are being researched, and plans have begun to protect the reef, lessen the damage, and improve conditions for its future. 
• Australia is one of seventeen "megadiverse" countries identified by Conservation International, an American environmental nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting biodiversity hotspots. The terms "megadiverse" and "biodiverse" refer to the great variety of native species, genera, and families of plants and animals in a region. 
• Australia is known for its native marsupials, like bandicoots, kangaroos, koalas, Tasmanian devils, wallabies, and wombats. These are animals that carry their young in a pouch. Other native wildlife include the dingo (wild dog), echidna (similar to an anteater), platypus, and saltwater crocodile. 
• Native birds include two flightless species, the emu and the southern cassowary. Among the other birds found in Australia are the eclectus parrot, Gouldian finch (or rainbow finch), laughing kookaburra, and wedge-tailed eagle.
• Some words and phrases unique to the country include "g'day" (hello), "beauty!" (great!), "barbie" (barbecue), "brolly" (umbrella), "heaps" (loads, lots, many), "lollies" (sweets), "sunnies" (sunglasses), "good on ya" (good work), "no worries" (don't worry about it, it's alright), "dog's breakfast" (a mess, shambles, just a bit of everything), "gone walkabout" (backpacking trip), and "choc a bloc" (full).
• Australian cuisine includes influences from Indigenous peoples and immigrants from Britain, Europe, and Asia. Indigenous food, "bush tucker" (bush food), incorporates the native flora and fauna, including fruit, crocodile, emu, kangaroo, and witchetty grubs. 
• The "quandong" or native peach is native to the country and is considered a "bush tucker" food. The Granny Smith apple also originated in Australia in 1868. Mangoes, grown in Australia, are a fruit Aussies look forward to each summer.
• British impacts on Australian food include fish and chips and Australian meat pies. Asian influences created a unique Australian Chinese cuisine. Chicken, beef, and lamb are a big part of the Australian diet, with seafood to a somewhat lesser extent. 
• Eating outdoors is popular, especially with barbecuing. Typical foods to put on the "barbie" are sausages, prawns, shrimp, beef steaks, and lamb chops.
• Pavlova is a meringue dessert named after a Russian ballerina that originated in Australia in the early 20th century. Another dessert is the "lamington," sponge cake layers filled with cream and covered with chocolate sauce and dry coconut flakes. 

What's It Like to Be a Kid in Australia?

• Because Australia is in the southern hemisphere, below the equator, the school year runs differently than in schools in the northern hemisphere, above the equator. In Australia, school starts in late January or early February and ends in early to mid-December. 
• Prep is the year before first grade. Primary school is from prep to grade 6, and high school is from grades 7 to 12. Most schools require students to wear uniforms.
• Kids may get 5 to 6 weeks off over Christmas, which is also their summer vacation, and 2 weeks off in April, June, and September.
• The sports Australian kids participate in include soccer, swimming, basketball, netball, cricket, Aussie rules football, rugby, cycling, and surfing.
• Before school, kids may have Weet-Bix or other breakfast cereal, porridge and fruit, or toast spread with butter or Vegemite (a thick brown paste made from brewer's yeast). They may drink Milo, a chocolate-flavored malted beverage mixed with water or milk. 
• For school lunch, kids may bring sandwiches, zucchini "slices," fruit, and biscuits (cookies) from home, or if they buy lunch from the canteen or tuck shop (cafeteria), they may get meat pies, sausage rolls, or sandwiches. 
• Australian kids and families love to be outdoors. One favorite activity is going to the beach. They can also visit the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, one hour from Canberra, where kids can go on ranger-led education activities to learn about native plants and animals and the Aboriginal Ngunnawal people and their culture.
• In Queensland, on the Gold Coast, they can go to Dreamworld, the largest amusement park in Australia. In Tasmania, kids might be able to see the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights, especially from May to August, during the Australian winter.
• A popular treat for kids, especially at birthday parties, is "fairy bread." It is sliced white bread, spread with butter or margarine, cut into triangles, and covered with "Hundreds and Thousands" tiny round candy sprinkles.