Issue No 7, January 1997.

NOTICE: Hard copies of the Australian New Crops Newsletter are available from the publisher, Dr Rob Fletcher. Details of availability are included in the Advice on Publications Available.

8. Australian native bushfood industry: update

In June 1995, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) recognised the potential of the native bushfood industry and its produce and established the Australian Native Bushfood Industry Committee (ANBIC).

ANBIC's membership was determined through extensive industry consultation and reflects the broad nature of the native bushfood industry.

ANBIC was charged with the responsibility of assessing the current status of the bushfood industry, its size and scope, as well as identifying its future as a financially viable, sustainable Australian industry.

A major requirement of ANBIC's work was the staging of the "Culture of the Land; Cuisine of the People" Conference in Brisbane in early May 1996 (Australian New Crops Newsletter 6: 28).

The manual from the conference is available from the ANBIC Secretariat, PO Box 309, Civic Square, ACT, 2608 for $75, postage included.

Following the Conference, RIRDC commissioned Ms Caroline Graham (ANBIC Chairperson) and Ms Denise Hart (ANBIC Secretary) to undertake a critical identification and assessment of nine listed objectives, so that industry development could proceed on realistic expectations.

This project has the following expected outcomes:

1. a determination of market requirements and industry-specific economics enabling industry participants at all levels to make realistic and accurate business decisions;
2. an accurate assessment of the most appropriate method of information dissemination with regard to raw product standards and potential product returns;
3. an understanding of the limitations placed on potential products as a result of current food standards;
4. a determination of the capacity and required process to vary current food standards including costs and time requirements;
5. an understanding of the role of Federal and State government agencies in fostering bushfood industry development, including potential research and development funding;
6. a clear determination of linkages with complementary industries and investigation of how these linkages should be fostered.

The nine factors that are to be identified and assessed include:

1. price structures and costs of production at each industry level;
2. required levels of raw product supply for major processors to enter the market;
3. product development potential with major food processors.
4. major competing food types and product ranges;
5. minimum product standards of raw materials;
6. time required to develop and launch new products;
7. limitations of current food standards;
8. the role of the Federal and State government agencies in the bushfood industry;
9. the benefit of liaison with complimentary industries (e.g. native meats, wine, ecotourism.

Listed below, in alphabetical order, are the 11 core species which are considered by ANBIC to hold the most promise, with a brief description and outline of their culinary uses and potential. This information is provided as an overview to the Austr alian Native Bushfood Industry produce which is available.

A small shrub with grey to green leaves; fruits turn from green to yellow when ripe (in the wild, generally around August) and dry on the plant to resemble a raisin. It is intensely flavoured with a piquant, spicy taste and can be used as a spice o r flavouring addition into most dishes where tomato is used.

Used in soups, casseroles, savoury tarts and pies or combined with capsicums, potatoes, onions, or with garlic or chilli in salsa or sauces.

Evergreen conical tree, sometimes used as a municipal street tree or in parks and gardens.

Dark green leaves with flowers on both male and female trees; it has blue/black fruits (approx 20mm - ripens during autumn/winter) with an inedible seed attached to the outside of the flesh at the opposite end to the stem.

Its taste is of a subtle plum/pine flavour; the bitterness will intensify if aluminium cookware is used.

Used in savoury applications, such as Illawarra plum and chilli sauce, chutneys, marinades. It teams up with fruits such as apricots, rhubarb in fruit syrups, sauces, flans and tarts and can be combined with chocolate or macadamia nuts in puddings.

A medium size deciduous tree with flower spikes in early summer, followed by oval, olive-shaped green fruit with a large stone (ripens March-June). It has the world's highest fruit source of vitamin C.

Has a subtle taste. Uses with apples or pears in jams, sauces or glazes and chutney making.

A medium/tall tropical rainforest tree with dark green oval shaped leaves and creamy yellow flowers.

The fruit is pale green to lemon coloured and is harvested in April-July, with a very thin outer skin and juicy, firm flesh.

Its taste is very tart, acidic with intensity of citrus/lemon flavours

Could be used (with care) in recipes where limes or lemons are used. It complements fruits such as mangoes, rhubarb and combines with ginger, lemon-grass for dressings, marinades, butters, icecream, curds, butter sauces (for shellfish) and shortbreads.

An evergreen tree of dull green foliage that has a strong lemon scent with white flowers in summer.

Its versatility encompasses the leaves, which contain essential oils, giving it its perfume and taste; the flowers and seed. All could be used in dried, fresh, shredded, ground or crushed form.

Used in teas, sorbets, in Asian dishes, shortbreads, hollandaise, dressings and sauces with fish or chicken.

Evergreen medium shrub to small tree with slender, dark green leaves, cream-coloured flowers, berries turn black when ripe in late summer.

Both the pepper leaves and pepper-berries have an intensity of complex flavours, similar to that of very coarsely cracked black pepper and whilst versatile as an alternative to traditional pepper, this additional strength of flavour must be remembered and quantities approximately halved when used.

Evergreen, creeping shrub with grassy-green, rounded leaves and dense fluffy white flowers

Small (approx 1cm) green berries become tinged with pink to purple when ripe (generally in late summer).

Used as apple-sultana tasting berries which as fresh fruit could be added to salads or desserts. Could be interchanged where apples are generally used, in strudels, relishes, pies, muffins, teacakes or in stuffing/sauces with duck or chicken.

Evergreen shrub to small tree with olive foliage, fruits (approximately 15 mm in diameter with a large pitted kernel) turn from green to shades of red/yellow/pink when ripe (generally in spring).

Has rhubarb/apricot taste overtones, with the kernel (which is edible and is valued medicinally by Aboriginal communities) having the smell and taste of "bitter almonds".

The fruit is generally used in its halved/dried form.

Used to combine with muntries/munthari, peaches, figs, bananas or fresh ginger in both sweet or savoury dishes such as sauces, pies or cakes.

Evergreen tree with glossy dark green leaves which are sometimes used as municipal street trees

Red pear-shaped fruit which ripens in late summer and is strongly clove and spice flavoured.

Used in combination with red berries in a fruit salad or with rhubarb, plums, or peaches in a crumble, strudel, muffins or scones. It blends well in sauces to accompany Australia's native meats and game poultry such as quail.

A low, leafy, green ground-cover plant with green leaves that look like an arrow head.

The leaves must be lightly blanched (discarding the water) prior to use. They can be chilled and used as a salad vegetable, in soup, with macadamia nuts in a pesto, in a roulade in place of baby spinach, in a dressing or sauce with bush tomato or basil or mountain pepper over pasta.

It has been estimated that there are around one thousand wattle species in Australia; a proportion of which Aboriginal people have been using for a variety of uses. The number of these species suitable for food or culinary uses is much smaller and care should be taken to only prepare identified food use species.

Various qualities of flour can be produced (from the specifically identified species) by roasting and milling the wattleseed.

The flour can be incorporated into breads, dampers, biscuits; with the prepared seeds being incorporated into dessert cones, mousses, hot drinks, pancakes and icecreams.

Dense shrub to medium tree which flowers in July to September, with fruit ripening in summer to a lime green or bright yellow colour.

It is a juicy fruit which has a taste of a tart West Indian lime flavour.

It mixes well with the flavours of ginger, chilli, coriander for butters, sweet and savoury sauces or mayonnaise. It can also be added to marmalades, souffles, tarts and curds.

Certain species produce a bark which is soft in texture and earthy in appearance which is carefully stripped from the trunk and used as a wrapping for steaming or roasting foods such as fish, vegetables and chicken.

Its thickness can be split in two and used as a food presentation serving platter or liner. It is barely edible and indigestible.

Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email: r.fletcher@mailbox.uq.edu.au

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originally created by: GK; latest update 6 June 1999 by: RF