Indigenous Australians have used paperbark to provide shelter, in artwork and to cook with for thousands of years but not many know how much and how often you can harvest a tree without killing it.

Up until a couple of years ago there was such a man but ill health forced him to stop and he was not able to persuade his children to take over.

But now an Aboriginal owned and worked property in the far north of Australia has begun to harvest 100 year old trees on the property to supply the market.

It will take 2 years for the thick bark to grow back and be ready again for harvesting.

Taste Australia Bush Food Shop has secured sheets of paperbark to sell and they will be available HERE once they make the long long trip from the remotest corner of the country.

Our Munducklin Curry Powder combines all the ingredients of a great curry with authentic native ingredients for a flavoursome meal.

There is nothing like a Finger Lime!  The casing is just bursting with zesty lime pearls.

Add them to sparkling water, add them to Raita (Natural yoghurt dip), squeeze them over oysters, toss them in a salad.

And yes they are a bush food

Wild Lime Syrup

Place a cup of water and 1 1/4 cups sugar into a heavy-based saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Add 1/4 cup finger limes and bring to the boil.
Lower heat and simmer gently until the volume is reduced by a third (about an hour).
Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve.
Transfer to sterile jars or bottles. It will keep for approx 12 months.

Note: The longer the syrup is reduced, the darker it will become and the flavour will intensify.
Different batches can be reduced to different strengths and are delicious served together.

Found in secluded pockets along the east coast of Australia
Used to enhance the flavour of cooked fruit dishes, desserts, spiced jams as well as in herbal teas  and syrups

Strawberry Gum Syrup Recipe HERE

A native fruit that’s intense and packed with anti-oxidants.

While it’s too tart for most of us to eat as a fresh fruit, in cooking it is one of my favourite bush fruits. A little Davidson plum goes a long way to colour and flavour ice cream, mousse and sweet sauces. It makes a sensational fruity savoury sauce and gives kangaroo goulash a rich fruity tang.

We stock both frozen fruit and powder.  The powder is an excellent addition to biscuits, muffins and icecream.

Davidsons Plum Freezer Jam (no cooking required)

De-seed 30 Davidsons Plums and puree. Combine one cup and 1 Tablespoon of sugar plus 4 Tablespoons Balls RealFruit Instant Pectin and stir until blended then add plum puree and stir for 3 minutes.  Ladle jam into plastic freezer jars ensuring you leave a cm head space .  Adjust caps.  Let jams stand for 30 minutes to thicken.  Label.  Freeze or refrigerate up to 3 weeks.

What do you give the cook in your life?

Taste Australia Bush Food Shop has 3 different box sets of native food ingredients.

A Cook’s Delight

• 13 dried and ground leaves
• Aniseed Myrtle, Australian Holy Basil, Cinnamon Myrtle, Lemon Myrtle, Mountain Pepperleaf, Native Basil, Native Sage, Native Thyme, Peppermint Gum, River Mint, Saltbush, Sea Parsley, Strawberry Gum
• 9 dried and ground berries, nuts and fruit
• Davidsons Plum, Finger Lime, Kakadu Plum, Illawarra Plum, Riberry, Sandalwood, Lemon Aspen, Pepperberry, Wattleseed, Desert Lime, Native Blood Lime or Bush Tomato
• Box set presentation, perfect for the cook in your life!

A Taste of Australia

• Contains 15 different ground or leaf bush herbs:
• Aniseed Myrtle, Australian Holy Basil, Cinnamon Myrtle, Mountain Pepperleaf, Lemon Myrtle, Mountain Pepperberry, Native Basil, Native Sage, Native Thyme, Peppermint Gum, River Mint, Saltbush, Sea Parsley, Strawberry Gum, Wattleseed.

Introduction to Australian Native Bush Food

• 10 different bushfood herbs –
• Aniseed Myrtle, Mountain Pepperleaf, Lemon Myrtle, Native Basil, Native Thyme, River Mint, Saltbush, Sea Parsley, Strawberry Gum, Wattleseed
• plus 5 bush food seasonings – Desert Flakes, Munducklin Curry Powder, Bush Tomato Seasoning, Seafood Sprinkle, Swagmans Salt, Pepperberry Salt, or Tanami Fire.

Maggie Beer’s Constitution Cake (photo from her website) is a firm favourite amongst our customers to serve at Christmas and features Quandong, Davidsons Plum, Muntries and Macadamias which are all available in the Taste Australia Bush Food Shop

Ingredients

1. 150g quandong dried
2. 1 1/2 cup Verjuice
3. 50g caster sugar
4. 120g dried currants
5. 60g almond whole
6. 180g unsalted butter chopped
7. 150g brown sugar
8. 4 free range eggs
9. 180g self raising flour
10. 1/2 tspn cinnamon ground
11. 1/2 tspn nutmeg ground
12. 180g davidson’s plums Defrosted, sliced and seed removed
13. 120g muntries defrosted
14. 1 lemon zest finely grated
15. 120g candied mixed peel
16. 120gm Dry Roasted Macadamias
17. 100gm icing sugar
18. 1 egg yolk
19. 60gm dry roasted almonds

Reconstitute dried quandongs by soaking in 375 millilitres of Maggie Beer’s Verjuice and 50 grams caster sugar for 30 minutes, then boil for 5 minutes. Turn off, add currants, leave to soften for 1 hour. Drain and reserve syrup.

Preheat the oven to 220°C and grease and line a 20 cm round spring-form cake tin with baking paper.

To make the nut paste, blend 120gm roasted macadamias in a food processor, then add 100gm icing sugar and 1 egg yolk and pulse to form a stiff paste. Set aside.

In the cake mixer, cream the brown sugar and butter until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of flour if the mixture curdles. Fold in the flour, spices, currants, quandongs, sliced davidson’s plums (seed removed), whole muntries, almonds and candied peel. Stir in the grated lemon zest and the reserved syrup, to give a soft batter.

Spoon half the batter into the prepared tin, then spread the nut paste over the mixture and top it with the remaining batter. Bake for 2.5 hours (or until a fine skewer comes out clean). If the top colours too quickly, cover with foil for the last hour. Leave the cake to cool a little in the tin before turning it out.

Maggie Beer>>

Illawarra Plum Chutney

Reconstitute air dried Illawarra Plums (200gm) in water overnight, strain and set juice aside (can be made into a jelly).
Fry 2 large sliced onions and 3 garlic cloves (minced) in Macadamia Oil until slightly caramelised,  then add 2  fresh thinly sliced red chillies.
Add the Illawarra Plums plus 300ml apple cider vinegar.
Simmer on low heat for an hour before spooning into sterlised jars.

Perfect with kangaroo or with a cheese platter

Illawarra plums make a smooth, rich jam which is  delicious on your favourite bread, especially combined with macadamia paste, and as a gourmet addition to yoghurt, ice cream, desserts and cakes.

Air dried sliced Illawarra Plums available in store

Aniseed Myrtle has strong aniseed scented and flavoured leaves which are often used for flavouring desserts, sweet sauces and preserves. It also is popular as a scented savoury sauce or marinade for meats and sets a deep fragrant flavour to salad dressings.

Made from the crushed leaves of Aniseed Myrtle it has a subtle sweet liquorice flavour. Great with fish or pork, steamed rice, seafood, biscuits, ice-cream or tea. Health wise it is touted for its superior antioxidant capacity.

Aniseed Myrtle Shortbread

Ingredients:
125gm butter
40gm sugar
25gm icing sugar
250gm plain flour
1 desertspoon Aniseed Myrtle
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Orange Juice

Cream the butter and sugar. Add icing sugar. Blend. Sift flour with Aniseed Myrtle and salt and then slowly add to the mixture alternating with orange juice until a smooth dough is formed.

Divide dough into 4 or 5 pieces. Shape into bars about 1cm thick. Place on ungreased sheet. Bake 150C for 15 to 20 minutes until pale golden (not brown).

Leave to cool and then transfer to wire rack.

Kale & Parsley Pesto
Blend 2 tspns coriander, 1 tspn lemon myrtle, 1/2 tspn aniseed myrtle, 1 tspn mountain pepperleaf, 1 tspn bush tomato and 100gm macadamias with handful fresh kale, handful parsley, 50gm grated parmesan, 2 garlic cloves, tbspn honey and macadamia oil

Spread on toast, use as a dip, stir through pasta, stuff chicken fillets

BUY Australian Native Ingredients HERE