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Our Wild Foods to the World
Andrew Fielke
Warrigal Greens, Botany Bay Spinach, New Zealand Spinach
- Distribution
- Available Australia wide, growing in quite a range of conditions from moist coastal regions to inland waterways. This plant also occurs naturally in other parts of the world.
- Description
- The diamond shaped, bright emerald green leaves range from 2-15cm in length. The leaves are picked from the long sprawling stems which form the plant. Flavour is more herbacious and grassy than conventional spinach.
- Distribution
- This native herb grows in coastal regions on sandy soils in South Western Auslralia and from South Australia and Tasmania up to Queensland. Different forms can also be found in mountainous terrain, swamps, wetlands and occasionally inland.
- Description
- Sea Parsley looks much like a small version of Italian or Flat Parsley with small leaves shaped a little like celery leaves and are a beautiful bright green colour. In fact you can taste both celery and parsley with a little saltiness and some residual bitterness.
Sea Blight: Suaeda australis
- Distribution
- This plant is found around much of Australia's coast line on sandy soil and salt fIat and also on estuarine salt marshes.
- Description
- This shrubby plant produces long stalks of semi-succulent, fleshy leaves 1-3cm long. The more tender end tips or sprigs are cut approximately 10cm long. When cooked quickly it takes on a lightly salted asparagus character. In cooler months the stems may have tiny flower heads.
- Distribution
- East coast and northern New South Wales in wetland areas.
- Description
-
Lemon Tea Tree is a fabulous shrub up to 2m with sprays of stems covered in tiny narrow evergreen leaves which have the mast wonderful fresh lemon scent. Strongly flavoured with an stringent, drying tannin finish on the palate. Do not use common Lemon Scented Tea Tree which has harmful "citronella" content. This species has "citral" instead, a chemical which can be consumed.
Basil (Native): Ocimum americanum
Wild Basil, Aniseed Basil
- Distribution
- These native herb varieties occur manly in drier areas of cenlral, inland and coastal Queensland, from Blackall to Cloncurry, often around the fringes of "Gidyea Forests".
- Description
- Native Basil is a small woody herb with small, pale green pointed leaves some 3-5cm long. When crushed it exudes a strong, unusual and pleasant 'basil like' aroma and has a mildly spiced basil flavour.
Aniseed Basil is a very similar shrub but often has darker green and slightly larger leaves. The big difference is a pungent aniseed / basil cross flavour and aroma.
Native Basil has, in the past, quite incorrectly been sold dried as 'Wild Thyme', simply because of the similar appearance to dried conventional Thyme.
Slender Mint: Mentha diemenica
Kosciusco
- Distribution
- Quite widespread in cool, wet climates.
- Description
- Slender Mint is a ground covering plant from which the final oval shaped leaves are picked for eating. It has a strong peppery, mint like flavour and aroma.
Bush Cucumber: Cuccumis melo
- Distribution
- Found in semi-arid range lands in Northern Territory and Queensland along gullies and waterways, even in culverts and ditches, where ever moisture is trapped. It prefers a sheltered position.
- Description
- These very attractive oval shaped fruits are 2-3cm in diameter and have a pale yellow to pale green colour skin with beautiful dark green speckles. The tough skin carries numerous flat white seeds in the pale green flesh with a melony cucumber flavour.
Wild Raspberry: Rubus muelleri
- Distribution
- Tropical northern Queensland in open forests and rain forests. Other Rubus species grow in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
- Description
- This superb fruit has clusters of juicy, pink to bright red lobes which form the berry, some 1-3 cm in diameter. They grow on a bramble thicket with regularly spaced sharp barbs on the stems. Flavour is a superb sharp berry-raspberry, stronger than exotic raspberries.
Wattle Seed
Acacia victoriae; Acacia notabilis; Acacia simsii; Acacia retinoides; Acacia pycnantha
- Distribution
- Common throughout South Australia.
- Description
-
A small oval black seed with a mustard coloured aril attached to the top and side. Roasted and ground it has a browny mustard colour and a nutty coffee-like flavour.
- Distribution
- As the name suggests this plant is found along waterways, wetlands and in moist forests in outh Australia, Victoria, Queensland and NSW.
- Description
- A straggly mint bush with long woody stems up to 30-40cm long with pale green pointed Ieaves (3-5cm long) that have a serrated edge. The leaves have a wonderfully pungent fresh spearmint aroma and flavour.
Aniseed Myrtle: Anetholea anisata
Native Aniseed
- Distribution
- Sub-tropical and tropical forests and waterways of NSW and Queensland.
- Description
- These beautiful dark green pointed leaves, some 5-12cm long, come from a quite rare, attractive rainforest tree which grows from 10 to 15 metres. When crushed, the fresh leaves exude a lovely aniseed scent which is not over-powering. Depending on the growing conditions of trees, and time of the year, the leaves may have varying levels of oil content and therefore flavour. (Note: Formerly known as Backhousia anisata)
- Distribution
- Tropical rainforests in Queensland and northern NSW.
- Description
- This beautiful palm shaped tree has graceful fronds with fine hairy stems and on the underside of leaves. It produces clusters of large dark blue to black plums 4-5cm in diameter. The dark red flesh contains two unusual flat seeds and has a wonderfully acidic plum flavour. The skin is thin but on the tougher, leathery side, and is covered with very fine hairs.
- Distribution
- This evergreen tree occurs naturally in sub-tropical to tropical forests and rainforests in Queensland. It may also be found in backyards, parks and streets of temperate zones.
- Description
- The attractive Lemon Myrtle has bright green glossy leaves 4-12 cm long which have a fragrant lemon perfume and flavour - not unlike lemon verbena. It is covered with masses of white flowers during the warmer months.
- Distribution
- Tasmania and Victoria
- Description
- Spicy leaves and berries from a large shrub. Used fresh or dried they have a spicy peppery chilli flavour. In cooking, the heat dissipates quickly leaving a subtle flavour.
Bush Tomato: Solanum centrale
Desert Raisin
- Distribution
- Arid lands, sandy soil - central Australia spreading into South Australia and Western Australia.
- Description
- This small shrub has pale grey-green leaves with fine hairs, looking a little like sage leaves. The small fruit of 1.5-3 cm in diameter ripen from green to yellow, when they become edible. Ripe fruit has an unusual melony, Tamarillo and tomato like flavour. Quite sweet and delicious when fully ripe. The fruit shrivels from drying to give an appearance of dried raisins or sultanas and contains small white seed (like tomato seed). Dried, the fruit has a strong pungent taste sometimes with residual bitterness.
Native Pear: Leichhardtia australis
Bush Banana
- Distribution
- Distribution of the Native Pear is widespread in arid to semi-tropical regions of South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, NSW and Victoria.
- Description
- Where do some of these early common names come from?! The fruit looks nothing like a pear or banana. I think a more accurate name could be the Giant Wild Pea as that's exactly what the young seed cluster tastes like - beautiful sweet green peas! The pods can grow up to around 10cm, but get tougher aid more bitter. Best size is 4-5 cm long - when peeled, reveals perhaps the most stunning and intricate looking vegetable on earth. These hardy vines need a trellis, host tree or fence upon which to climb and produce clusters of nectar sweet flowers followed by the fruit. There is also an edible tuber which grows undergound. Unfortunately, more often than not, the plant is destroyed by harvesting. The tuber has a starchy watery texture with a subtle flavour.
Lemon Aspen and White Aspen: Acronychia acidula and Acronychia oblongifolia
- Distribution
- Lemon Aspen is found in tropical and tableland forests of northern Queensland, up towards Cape York.
White Aspen enjoys sub-tropical shorelines and temperate coastal regions as the name suggests, and is found from northern Victoria to Southern Queensland.
- Description
- Lemon Aspen is a pale lemon coloured fruit about 1.5 - 2.5cm in diameter with a tough star shaped core - textured much like an apple core. The core often contains very small black seeds and the thin flesh is spongy. The fruit exudes an incredible tropical citrus aroma (much more so when fresh) and a very strong acid flavour of lemon and tropical spice characters.
White Aspen, snow white in colour, has a smaller, easier to eat core, and a much more subtle flavour. The whole fruit is edible.
Kurrajong Seed: Brachychiton populneus
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| Brachychiton populneus seeds in pod (with attendant Harlequin bug). Photo: Heather Knowles |
- Distribution
- Found Australia wide in open forests, aid regions, woodlands and sandy soil plains. Grown extensively in towns and cities as an amenity plant.
- Description
- The tree bears large clusters of black leathery boat shaped pods which contain bright yellow to mustard coloured seeds. Itchy hairy fibre also surrounds the seeds and must be removed before use, which is a time consuming process. The seeds are very nutritious and are high in protein, fat,
oil and some minerals. Once roasted and ground, they produce an excellent dark, rich flour with a nutty flavour. Kurrajong should be roasted before use, not eaten raw.
Peppermint Gum: Eucalyptus dives
- Distribution
- Grows naturally in the region of the Great Divide, Central NSW and Australian Capital Territory.
- Description
- The leaves of this small species have a pronounced peppermint aroma and flavour. Used as a dried, ground powder, or whole for infusion.
Brown Pine Plum
- Distribution
- From the Illawarra region in NSW to far north Queensland in sub-tropical and tropical rain forests, waterways and near sea shores. Nowadays seen widespread in temperate climates in park and street plantings.
- Description
- An unusual fruit which has two parts, the seed which grows conveniently on the outside of the fruit and is easily removed when harvesting. The edible berry, purply blue in colour and 1.5-3 cm in diameter, is juicy with a gelatinous 'sappy' type consistency. Flavour is subtle plum with a hint of resinous pine coming from the firm core.
Muntries: Kunzea pomifera
Munthari, Native Cranberries, Munta Berries
- Distribution
- Grows on coastal dunes and well drained sandy soils from Lake Alexandria in South Australia along the coast down into Victoria. Muntries also grow inland in south east South Australia into
Victoria.
- Description
- This small berry 0.5-2 cm in diameter grows in clusters on the stems of a small shrubby ground cover. It ripens from green to a pink tinge with a sweet apple like flavour and a crunchy texture.
Macadamia Nut: Macadamia integrifolia
- Distribution
- Widely grown in Queensland and New South Wales.
- Description
- Australia's first indigenous plant to be commercialised. Delicious crunchy textured nut.
Quandong: Santalum acuminatum
Desert Peach or Wild Peach
- Distribution
- Arid to semi arid climates from Western Australia across to Victoria and NSW.
- Description
- Australia's most famous 'outback' fruit has many variations in quality, flavour and size. The round fruits 2-4 cm on average have a thin red to dark maroon coloured shell of flesh encasing a perfectly round dimpled stone. The stone reluctantly yields a white edible kernel which can have a faintly medicinal taste. The fruit is the real prize with a wonderful rich acidic flavour similar to nectarine and peach and is high in Vitamin C.
Kakadu Plum: Terminalia ferdinandiana
Green Plum or Billy Goat Plum
- Distribution
- Widespread in the northern tropics from the Kimberley across to the Kakadu region, generally in open forests.
- Description
- The pale green fruit are 1-2.5 cm long, ovaI in shape and can resemble a green olive. The sharp acidic flesh wtth a green plum flavour is fibrous and clings to the small white stone similar in size to a cherry stone.
Bunya Nut: Araucaria bidwillii
- Distribution
- Occurs naturally in southern Queensland and northern NSW. Grows successfully in many other parts of Australia, as far north as Rockhampton.
- Description
- A tough woody shell contains a large nut similar to a pine nut in appearance. Each nut is enclosed in a fibrous casing or valve, many of which form the large green female pine cone. These huge cones can be the size of a football and weigh well in excess of 5 kg. The meat is high in starch content and its texture is very similar to chestnuts with a subtle pine nut / macadamia flavour.
- Distribution
- Widespread in inland woodlands and scrubs, on heavy clay soils, in New South Wales and southern Queensland. In South Australia it is only found in a smoll area north-west of Port
Augusta.
- Description
- A spiny shrub or smafl slender tree with slender leaves (0.3-1cm wide) and small citrus fruits. The white flowers, produced in spring, are followed in late spring and summer by yellow or green fruits, 1-2 cm long, which resemble tiny lemons, having a porous rind and sour juicy centre.
Blood Lime: Citrus australasica hybrid (P.B.R)
- Distribution
- Hybrid plant: mother plant grows widely in north-east, central and southern Queensland, and north east NSW. Hybrid grows well under Riverland citrus conditions.
- Description
- The Blood Lime is grown for its blood-red coloured fruit, with dark glossy green foliage. The skin, flesh and juice are blood-red in colour, the intensity of which may vary from season to season. Seeds are small and plump. Juice squeezed from the fruit has a sharp, crisp / clean flavour. (*PBR Australian Native Produce Industries - Product of 30 years research by CSIRO. ANPI has exclusive licence for commercialisation of this variety).
Native Currant: Acrotriche depressa
- Distribution
- In small pockets of South Australia and Victoria; particularly on Kangaroo Island, Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Adelaide Hills.
- Description
- Fruits are taken from a small prickly shrub. They offer a moderate source of vitamin C and are red in colour. Flavour is best when mixed with sugar to remove the acidity.
Andrew Fielke is an award-winning chef with over 20 years of international experience. On returning to Australia in the mid 1980s he was inspired to devise exciting dishes pioneering a new direction for a "Creative Native Australian Cuisine". He opened the first Red Ochre Grill in Adelaide in 1992 and has opened new restaurants in Cairns, Melbourne, Alice Springs and Brisbane. Australian Native Produce Industries began in 1992 and manufactures a wide range of Red Ochre Gourmet Food and distributes retail/wholesale raw and processed bush foods.
This article is a reproduction of a paper presented at the SGAP 19th Biennial Seminar which was held at Annesley College, Adelaide, 30 September to 3 October 1997.
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Australian Plants online - March 2002
Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants
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