Bush Tucker – the ancient plants that need to be discovered by the young people and Australians
Autor: Sara Müller | Publicado: 2015-12-07T15:33:00-08:00




Bush tucker
can be from animals (kangaroo, emus, turkey, wallaby, snakes, lizards, etc),
plants and fruits (wild orange, bush passionfruit, bush fig, bush tomato, bush
banana, bush coconut, lemon myrtle, bush plums, bush onion-yalke, native
lemongrass, bush yam-sweet potato, seeds and spices (wattle seeds, mulga seeds,
ruby saltbush), insects (witchetty grub, caterpillars) or honey and nectars
(honey ant).

However,
because of the climate, some wild food/animals, which are not originally from
the region have thrived in Central Australia’s desert, such as camel, dates, quandong,
feral cat and bush honey.






Being there
I could try some bush tucker and learn a bit about them with Kungkas Can Cook. Bush tomato, for
example, is considered a treat, which is given to children, however, rarely are
they found in the arid parts of Australia. Interestingly their growth is stimulated
by fire to break the dormancy and germinate. As they don't
grow in abundance the aborigines made a fruit ball to be hidden and stored for
several years gave in little portions for their children (maybe it was the
beginning of the protein balls! Haha). But it is not every bush tomato is
edible and even for the edible ones a particular technique is used to eat them
because most of them need to remove the poisonous part (or maybe this is the
secret to keep us far from this delicatessen). For my taste buds it was bitter
and reminded me of Vegemite (now I understand why Australians love this!). Bush
tomato was the only “chocolate” some children got from the desert and they couldn´t
keep away from this treat. 



Another indulgence
which is very difficult to find in the wild world is sugar bag - the honey made
by&nbsp;

Australian native stingless bees from the Western Desert. I got one from the
Warlpiri tribesman who hunted it from wild nests. It’s real bush tucker. Even
though sugar bar is a natural sweet substance originating from the nectar of
flower like honey, it has its own special flavour, totally different.&nbsp; It tastes like burned caramel with honey and
propolis (it is also a little bit bitter, but enough to mix well with the sweet
caramel). The flavour is out of this word and it’s a highly prized food for
Aborigines who hunt it from wild nests.&nbsp;&nbsp;






I also
tried quandong the wild peach, saltbush dukkah, native salty herb, and wattle
seed, which only germinates after bushfires and is a rich source of protein and
carbohydrate in times of drought. 



Next time I’m
keen to try honey ants and a witchetty grub.



Honey ant
is an ant that stores honey in their stomachs to share it with other ants when food
is scarce. Because of their size, honey ants cannot move. Who tasted it say
that is a very strong honey with lemon. Aboriginal women grab them from the
nest into the ground.



Witchetty
grub is a delicacy found in the roots of the witchetty bush. Women dig for
them. Some people say that they taste like scrambled eggs and almonds.



I wish I
could share this experience with every friend I have and this is the reason I
am writing this post. If you have the opportunity to go there, do it and try as
much as bush food you can. You will not regret it J. (more experience to be made in outback on this post).&nbsp;



I’m happy
to have Rayleen Brown from Kungkas Can Cook to share her culture and yummy bush food with me. 



More information:&nbsp;http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/living/plants