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Versatile legumes have taste of success

Tamra CarrGeraldton Guardian
Tanya Kitto, from West Casuarinas between Mullewa and Geraldton, is keen to see lupins on the plate of every Australian.
Camera IconTanya Kitto, from West Casuarinas between Mullewa and Geraldton, is keen to see lupins on the plate of every Australian. Credit: Justine Rowe

It wasn’t love at first bite for lupin fan Tanya Kitto.

She tried the legume for the first time when she started dating her now-husband, Robert, and thought the taste was just “OK”.

Now, years into the lupin growing business at her West Casuarinas farm, Ms Kitto is mad about lupins and she’s on a mission to make everybody else mad about them too.

“They have 37 per cent protein, 42 per cent fibre, only 6 per cent carbs and three times more iron than kale,” the Geraldton-born woman said.

“People don’t like it because they think it’s just a stockfeed, which it is, but so is wheat, barley and corn.

“Lupins have such a great nutritional profile, why wouldn’t we want to consume that?”

Another barrier to lupin ubiquity is they just don’t taste very nice.

“By themselves they’re not necessarily really enjoyable,” Ms Kitto said.

“But it’s about what you do with them — if you turn them into a flour and bake them, it’s just a slightly nutty taste.”

Part of Ms Kitto’s mission is to stabilise the price of market lupins, which regularly see significant fluctuations.

She described them as extremely important to agriculture, including soil rejuvenation, and she wants to see prices maintained for farmer benefit.

The 39-year-old married into the lupin business, passed down by her father-in-law to her husband last year.

Her offshoot venture is My Provincial Kitchen, a business that sells Coeliac Australia-approved lupin products.

Her push to help farmers and put lupins on the plate of every Australian earnt Ms Kitto a spot in the State’s 2019 WA Rural Women’s Awards.

She was one of four finalists in the running for $10,000 to help develop their community projects.

The prize was ultimately awarded to Esperance farmer Belinda Lay on March 13.

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