Topic: Bush Tucker

[Ke-ke wan]

(love the sound of this!)
Not something I know anything about, however doing a google tour of all things Ozzy Botanical, herbs flowers and now, bush tucker. 
here is what I am finding:


"Bush tucker, also called bushfood, is any food native to Australia and used as sustenance by the original inhabitants, the Aboriginal Australians, but it can also describe any native fauna/flora used for culinary and/or medicinal purposes, regardless of the continent or culture. Examples of Australian native animal foods (meats) include kangaroo, emu and crocodile. In particular, kangaroo is quite common and can be found in many normal supermarkets, often cheaper than beef. Other animals, for example goanna and witchetty grubs, were eaten by Aboriginal Australians. Fish and shellfish are culinary features of the Australian coastal communities.

Examples of Australian native plant foods include the fruits: quandong, kutjera, muntries, riberry, Davidson's plum, and finger lime. Native spices include lemon myrtle, mountain pepper, and aniseed myrtle. A popular leafy vegetable is warrigal greens. Nuts include bunya nut, and the most identifiable bush tucker plant harvested and sold in large scale commercial quantities is the macadamia nut. Knowledge of Aboriginal uses of fungi is meagre but beefsteak fungus and native "bread" (a fungus also), were certainly eaten."

This is a huge topic and veers off into subsections according to different areas of Australia.  I'm not sure where I am going with this, so probably just going to post what looks pretty and sounds nice.

For starters:

Bush banana


Lemon Myrtle


Native raspberry.  I don't know for certain, but raspberry leaf in NA is a good medicinal.  Probably this one is, too.  Over here we use it for digestive issues.  (Or to induce labour or miscarriage)

[Ke-ke wan]

Names sound so pretty

Pandanus


Rosemary, great for spicing and as a medicinal.  Vermifuge, stomach settler, good for lungs and blood. Great for skin tonic



Kava plant

[Ke-ke wan]

Blue lotus.  Great for dreaming!

I'm learning  also that eating the roots, stems, flowers are excellent medicine for women. 

Beautiful website here:
https://medicineroom.net/2012/09/blue-lotus-as-medicine-nymphaea-caerulea/

[Ke-ke wan]

More floral Aussie Botanicals over at the GG.
http://thegypsygarden.smfforfree3.com/index.php/topic,3827.0.html

[runningstream]

love it i hire the books and get the posters

ate pinbk lilly pilly a couple weeks ago

[Ke-ke wan]

Some of the names are adorable.
Sound so pretty to say. I don't have the proper Aussie accent though.
Canadian stab at an Aussie accent is probably not the same.

But the plant names still sound pretty in my head.

[Ke-ke wan]

Bush Tucker
Bush foods and bush tucker of the Aboriginal people of Central Australia usually fell into these groups:

1. Food from animals including kangaroo, emus, wild turkey, rock wallaby, possums, snakes and lizards and anteaters.

2. Food from plants including wild orange, wild passionfruit, wild fig, bush tomato, conkerberry, mistletoe, bush banana and bush coconut, quandongs, pencil yams, mulga apple, bush plums and sultanas.

3. Edible seeds including mulga seeds and wattle seeds.

4. Grubs and insects including witchetty grub, cicadas, caterpillars. Other grubs are found in various tree species such as river red gum, coolibah, ironwood and the prickly wattle.

5. Honey and nectars found in the honey ant, honey from the native bee, nectar from the flowers of the bloodwood and corkwood trees.

6. Water - the search for water in the dry desert conditions was essential for survival. Water could be found in soakages, tree roots and hollows and the very scarce permanent water holes.

[Ke-ke wan]

2. Food from plants including wild orange, wild passionfruit, wild fig, bush tomato, conkerberry, mistletoe, bush banana and bush coconut, quandongs, pencil yams, mulga apple, bush plums and sultanas.

So amazing and different than anything we see over here in NA.

Wild Orange



Wild Passionfruit

Flower:


Bush Tomato -- aka Desert raisin.  Kind of looks like Sun dried tomato, which we do eat a lot of over here.




Conkerberry (looks like currant or saskatoon)



Quandongs -- good for dry skin and controlling skin irritations & inflammation.

[Ke-ke wan]

Finger limes




Ribery


"Because of its rich spicy flavours, Ribery is particularly suited in sauces and chutneys for game meats (eg: kangaroo and venison), as well as for the more traditional poultry, lamb or pork. Evidently it does not compliment beef or fish very well. Riberry is also delicious in salads, vegetable dishes and desserts.

Seedless varieties are best used for cooking, as it is not necessary to remove the seed prior to use. As with most bush foods, the flavour of Riberry is quite strong, Thus, it will be necessary to balance this intense flavour with other ingredients and to use less of the fruit rather than more."

~~

Medicinally, one can intuit uses of fruits and plants, based on colour and organs associated with it specified colour, on the healing spectrum.  Would have to listen to the plant, though and watch the birds to keep away from poisonous fruits.  In order to survive in the bush.

I'm guessing, then that ribery would be good for kidneys, blood and used as tonic, but have yet to find any info on that.  Still looking
So pretty, though! 

[Ke-ke wan]

Bunya nut



Boiled, steamed, or I'm thinkin' pesto. 

[Michael]

Bunya Nuts: I have tried these because Dom is keen on them in season, so he brings them along. They are close to potato in style, but much more starchy. Hard to eat without liquid to help spread in the mouth. We usually cook them on the fire, and actually they are very pleasant (with a drink). I do like them, but difficult to see them become popular. They were extremely popular with the aboriginals, so it is likely they evolved good methods of preparing them.