The Essential Ingredient Sydney stocks an extensive range of native ingredients. This guide is intended to inform you about what they are and how to use them. They are incredibly strong and flavourful, somewhat like the personality of our country itself! The importance of these ingredients is that they are just that, native, and they were growing all over this country before we arrived. These plants are suited to the climate, soil and seasons of this drought stricken land. There is nothing like the intense taste of a native lime, and we stock many products lovingly made with native flavours and ingredients. Native herbs such as Lemon Myrtle and Wild Rosella are some of the most common, and these are already in a few of our best selling products. However, native fruits are exciting additions to any cook's repertoire.

If you aren't feeling confident enough to buy raw fruit, there are many ready made products to try. For the intrepid cook, here is a run down of the ingredients we stock and their usage.

Lemon Aspen

The fruit of the lemon aspen are a pale greenish coloured and look like grapes. They have an inner core with tiny black seeds. They are an intensely tart and acidic citrus tasting fruit, with hints of honey and eucalypt. They can be used successfully in most recipes where lemons and limes are called for. The flavour is however extremely strong and approximately 100g of lemon aspen equals something close to the juice, zest and pulp of about 6 large lemons. Lemon aspen works best in dressings, marinades and dishes where it can be added at the last minute. Boiling destroys a lot of its flavour. Lemon aspen works well with lemon myrtle, native mints, lemongrass and ginger, fruits such as raspberry, mango and rhubarb. It also works well in ice cream and baked goods after being pureed. The juice can also be purchased and used for sauces syrups and curds.

Uses: lemon aspen mayonnaise, lemon aspen shortbread, lemon aspen and macadamia dressing, lemon aspen vinegar, lemon aspen meringue pie, aspen and ginger marinade.

Wikipedia: Lemon Aspen

Wild Lime

The wild lime (or sometimes desert lime) is a true drought resistant plant that can adapt and grow in severe conditions. The fruit, which comes in miniature and regular sizes, is juicy with a thin skin and segmented fruit, closely resembling a West Indian green lime. It is a relative of the exotic finger lime. The wild lime can be substituted for ordinary limes in almost any recipe and, like its common relative, the whole fruit can be used. They are best added towards the end of cooking but can be used in marmalades, curds, brulees and sauces.

Uses: wild lime and coriander dressing, wild lime and ginger tart.

Wikipedia: Desert Lime

Riberries

The riberry is also known as Lillipilli. These tiny pink and red fruits are juicy and mildly sweet with a distinct clove-like flavour. Their flavour is suited to game meats and kangaroo. Try with venison instead of juniper. Also suited to chicken, lamb or pork. They are lovely eaten fresh, mixed with other berries and combine well with apples oranges, pears, peaches, apricots and mango. Great in baked cakes and puddings, toss in while frozen. Riberries even go well with chocolate.

Uses: use instead of cloves for apple pie, infused into Vodka, quail and riberry glaze, mango riberry and coriander salsa, riberry and pumpkin risotto.

Wikipedia: Riberries

Muntries

Sometimes known as Munthari berries, they look like little apples. About the size of a pea, with tiny seeds, they are delicious eaten straight from the bush. They taste a bit like a cross between an apple and a sultana. Unlike some bush foods, they are not tart or acidic and can be used whole. Approximately 100g of Muntries is equivalent to a cup full, meaning they will go a long way when used in cooking. They lose colour but not texture when cooked. They can be incorporated anywhere apples are traditionally used. They go well with pork, chicken and even duck.

Uses: cinnamon and munthari muffin, roast pork with munthari and native mint stuffing.

Wikipedia: Muntries

Kakadu Plum

This fruit resembles an olive more than a plum. It is acidic raw, and is best cooked and used in jams, sauces and glazes, where its tartness can be modified. The taste is delicate and it will combine well with native peppers, chilli and lemon myrtle as well as apple pears and guavas.

Uses: pickled, used like an olive or with cheese, duck breast with kakadu plum glaze.

Wikipedia: Kakadu Plum

Illawarra Plum

This tree is an evergreen rainforest tree, widely grown by many councils. The fruit is a rich deep black-purple and its seed grows attached to the outside. The plum has definite plum characteristics when eaten fresh. It has a slight resinous quality that can intensify when cooked. This comes from its core, which can be taken out. This plum makes a great sauce for meats such as game, lamb and chicken. It can be delicious with seafood and is perfect for baking cakes, muffins and pies it will work with peaches, apricots, rhubarb, coconut, ginger and chilli and combine with almonds, hazelnuts and chocolate.

Uses: plum and chilli sauce, illawarra plum scones, plum and chocolate pudding.

Wikipedia: Illawarra Plum

Davidson Plum

This tree is rare in the wild, usually found in NE QLD and NE NSW. It is cultivated in certain areas of northern NSW and far north QLD. The fruit is about the size of a blood plum with a double flat seed. It is tangy and delicious but extremely sour. Davidson plums can be used in place of blood plum in any recipe but as with most of the bush fruits, the flavour is very intense. If compared to a standard plum you would use only 1 Davidson to 3 other plums. This means they should be mixed with other fruit so that they do not overpower the dish. Half and half may be a good ratio. They will not lose their colour or break down and become mushy. Davidson plum is very well suited to sauce making, both sweet and savoury.

Uses: davidson plum dressing, jam or couli for desserts, duck with plum sauce.

Wikipedia: Davidson Plum

Quandong

This tree grows all over the country preferring sandy arid conditions. Its taste is close to apricot crossed with rhubarb with a touch of cinnamon. Quandong fruits combine well with native peppers, mints and thyme. They work well with apricots, figs, bananas, apples, pears, chilli, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Uses: quandong port and chilli sauce, quandong jam, marinate and add to ice cream, steamed quandong pudding, quandong and macadamia stuffing.

Wikipedia: Quandong

Bush Tomato

The bush tomato is a true desert shrub that requires little water and thrives in the sun. The bush tomato is a prolifically growing fruit. It was a staple of aboriginal desert dwellers. They gathered the fruits, which flourished particularly after fire and rainfall, and then dried them. The dried fruits would be then ground and mixed with water to form a thick paste. This was rolled into large balls and dried again to be stored in the fork of a tree for later use.

Bush tomatoes look like yellowish cherry tomatoes with a green tinge. They must be dried before eating to reduce levels of alkaloids that can be dangerous. Dried, they shrivel to a rich reddish brown and look a bit like a raisin. This little fruit is probably more like a spice than a tomato and is best used in a ratio of 1 part bush tomato to 10 parts other ingredients. The taste is a little spicy, piquant, even curry-like. The flavour can be very bitter and overpowering if too much is added.

The best way to use the bush tomato is ground. It is best not to try to re-hydrate the whole fruit. Bush tomatoes are a great addition to almost any tomato based dish. They add dimension to casseroles and soups and additionally act as a thickening agent. They begin to re-hydrate, absorbing water and seasoning at the same time. If making a tomato sauce, add 100g bush tomato to 1 kg fresh tomato towards the end of cooking. Bush tomatoes go with chilli, pepper, cheese, olives, anchovies, onions eggplants, and tomatoes. In fact, most vegetables work well with the flavour of bush tomato.

Uses: tomato pizza sauce top with goat cheese and basil, bush tomato mayonnaise, sweet potato and bush tomato risotto, bush tomato and chilli salsa, bush tom and red wine sauce.

Wikipedia: Bush Tomato

The possibilities for the use of bush foods are endless. Who knows, we may all be scrambling about the base of a bush tomato tree in the dessert soon. At least we will know what to do with some of the fruits of this incredible array of foods.

Bibliography

• Wild Lime: Cooking from the Bush Food Garden, Juleigh Robbins
• A Taste of the Bush Vol. 2, Jill Richardson
• www.cherikoff.net
• www.bushfood.net
• Bushfood on Wikipedia