Bush Foods
 

Australian native foods or bush foods  have become an exciting and emerging industry based around the cultivation of indigenous food and spice plants. Australian Aborigines  have for centuries made the most of the country’s unique  native fruits, nuts, berries, herbs and vegetables for food and  medicine.

Products
Considerable research and development  continues in this young industry to discover efficient ways to  produce and deliver its products. Many of these are easy to cultivate, transport, store and process.

Locally the demand for the unique flavours and textures of raw bush food is growing, with restaurants and gourmet food processors being the major consumers.

Australia’s main bush-food exports are value-added products such as sauces, spices, pickles, chutneys, jams, edible oils and confectionery.

Types
Bush fruits, seeds, nuts, herbs,  spices and vegetables are distinguished by their unusual  flavours, colours, textures and aromas.

• bush tomato (akudjura): a small pungent  berry from a shrub related to the tomato which is used as a spice
• bush orange: used as a flavouring
• Illawarra plum: a dark red berry  from a semi-tropical tree that is sauced, pureed or pickled
• Kakadu plum: used as a garnish
• lemon aspen: a versatile citrus-flavoured  fruit
• native cranberries (munthari): a  small berry with a sweet apple flavour
• desert peach (quandong): it is high  in Vitamin C and used for jams and in pies
• riberries (clove lilli pilli): small  pink berries with a sharp spice and clover flavour
• wild rosella flowers: its crisp,  berry-flavoured petals and buds are used for jams and  chutneys
• wild limes: there are finger limes,  round limes and drought-resistant desert limes. Blood  limes, which are small round tropical fruits with a sharp  limey grapefruit flavour, are a hybrid of a finger lime and a mandarin.

• bunya nuts: these are similar to  chestnuts in size and flavour and come from the cone  of the Bunya pine tree of New South Wales and Queensland
• macadamia nuts: Australia’s  first commercial indigenous plant, which grows in Queensland  and New South Wales.

• aniseed myrtle
• lemon myrtle: its citrus-flavoured  leaves and stems are used as a flavouring or a tea
• mountain pepper
• native mint: used in sauces, pesto,  butters, vinegars and oils
• native peppermint and thyme
• native pepperberries: a hot peppery  berry for sauces, particularly for game and other meats.