It's this of of year again and I've been on the hunt for more bush tomatoes, for some reason they have been selling like hot-cakes!! 

I have only enough on hand, which I've just got in, to make my Red Australian curry which has bush tomato in and also my Bush Tomato rub, so sorry for the inconvenience but just can't help. 

That's the negative, the positive is that because of the climatic conditions next year is going to be a bumper harvest I'm told.  They are still green on the vines, but come January, and don't quote me on this exactly, they should be back in stock with a vengance.

These spicey little desert fruits, called the desert raisin because they look like one when dried, have been a staple food for the aboriginal people who live in the arid regions for thousands of years.  I find that the more that I use them in cooking the more uses that I seem to have for them, and I guess with the increase in popularity so many others are discovering their unique flavour and becomming familiar with them in day to day cooking.  Whether it's spinkled on your favourite pizza, put into a pasta dish or otherwise as extra flvour to a slow baked dish they're fantastic.

If you really want to try them and havn't before I can recommend my Bush Tomato rub, great to put on any meat for the BBQ or roasting or otherwise the rub can be made into a great dukkha (recipe inside the pack).  My Red Australian curry also has bush tomato as one of it's bush food ingrediants and again inside the pack there is a recipe for a great curry cauliflower soup, or otherwise you can use it to replace any of your other curries for a wonderful bushfood dish.

An "old bushie" told me the other day that if you smoke some water and put it on your bush tomatoes they grow well. Bush tomatoes, as we know, grow in the heat of the desert and need a good bushfire to propogate. Now if you take your billy-can and put it over a fire and allow the smoke of the fire to get in the water then when its cold water your bush tomatoes, they will love it and prosper!

The bush tomatoes pictured opposite are the dried version, you can buy them from www.makingtracks.com.au. When using grind them first.

I've just got some new bush tomatoes in, they were a little hard to get last year due to climatic conditions. Bush Tomatoes are still native harvested and most of the time are dried in the sun.

Bush tomatoes grow in the desert areas of Australia they are an important crop and one of the Aboriginal people's most precious fruit.

The plants will grow in force for a few seasons and then dry off waiting for the next bushfire to regenerate. Aboriginal women collect these fruits when dried in their coolamuns (a carved wooden dish) grind them to a fine powder add water to form a paste, roll them into balls to be dried again and stored in the trees for use later, this way they would keep for many months.

The fruit, after drying in the sun, looks like a raisin and is a reddish/brown colour. They can make you ill if you eat too many of them when they are fresh, the drying process reduces the level of alkaloids in the fruit.

The bush tomato has a spicy flavour and can be used in many recipes. For recipe ideas go to www.bushfoodrecipes.com.au

I had a wonderful day with my Outback Chef market stall at the Art & Soul Festival at Phillip Island on Saturday and met up with a lot of friends as well as made some great new friends.   It was also a great chance to try out my new Spicey Bush Tomato marinade as well as Outback Five Spice and my Glace Riberries.....got thumbs up all round so I'm very happy to get such good and positive comments.

This Bushfood Combo is a hands-on bushfood kit designed to get things happening in the kitchen.  If you are interested in bushfood, but when it comes down to it don't know where to go in everyday cooking.  This kit is available at a special price, it incluces favourite bushfoods as well as fact sheets and how the Aboriginal people used them in their everyday cooking as well as easy to follow recipes and all the latest information on the health aspects of bushfood.  If you havn't yet tried any bushfood I can recommend this kit and am offering it at great value to entice you along the way a bit.

Also known as the desert raisin as it's dried appearance does resemble one.  It is a scrambling bush that grows in the desert areas of Australia.  Although I did see one the other day in Melbourne, just growing on the side of the road, surrounded by weed and frost!!...the plant is hardy.  Aboriginal people would only use them after they have dried on the bush, this reduces the harmful alkaloids in the unripened fruit.  To preserve they would mix them with tree resins, roll into a ball and put up in the trees to dry.  When needed they would be ground into a powder.

Bush tomato can be added to any of your favourite tomato dishes, pastas, soups and casseroles to give a spicy flavour.  They also act as a thickener, great if you're trying to avoid wheat based products.  Remember they are a spice not a direct substitute for fresh tomatoes.

As a health benefit they are high in folate and anti oxidant.

Always interested to hear from you and your favourite way to use bush tomatoes, if you go to my recipe site there are also ways to use bush tomato, not all that hard to do either.

This pics show unripe bush tomato on the bush and also the dried berriers ready to grind for use.

 See previous blog to work in conjunction with this Flavour wheel, compiled by; RIRDC in conjunction with the Queensland Government
 

For more information contact the Department of
Employment, Economic Development and Innovation
on 13 25 23 or visit www.deedi.qld.gov.au
© The State of Queensland, Department of Employment,
Economic Development and Innovation, 2010.

For a larger (readable) view of this wheel

To all those that have been waiting, this book is now back in stock.  From roasts to rissoles and everything in between this outback bush cookbook is a lot of fun.

The Tumut Region is holding a Harmony Day, if you want to celebrate and learn more about indigenous culture, then a visit to Tumut and the National Park is well worth it. See the menu below....

 
For more information regarding the  events, please
contact the Tumut Region Visitors Centre on 
02) 6947 7025, or Cooee Cottage on 02) 6947 3362.
tumutrvc@environment.nsw.gov.au
www.tumutregion.com.au

NPWS Aboriginal Discovery Programs Tumut in partnership with Cooee Cottage, the Brungle and Tumut Community Working Party and the Tumut Shire Council will be hosting three community activities in Tumut on the 4th, 6th and 8th of October finishing with a Community Harmony day being held at Cooee Cottage in Tumut from 11am to 3pm.

NPWS Aboriginal Discovery Program

NAIDOC Harmony Day Menu

Saturday 8^th October 2011

Bush Tucker Fusion Menu

Main Tucker

Kangaroo Stew with Mountain Pepper and Bush Tomatoes

Tender diced Kangaroo served in a thick and tasty sauce

of bush tomato and mountain peppers.

Emu Curry

Emu fillets slowly cooked in an Australian Yellow Curry with Lemon myrtle.

Bush Tomato Sausages

Locally made sausages mildly spiced with bush tomato.

Native Fish Skewers with Lemon Pepper Rub

Fish fillets tossed lightly in a tangy lemon myrtle and mountain pepper rub

cooked on the BBQ

Bush Treats in Bush Tomato Rub

A grubby little morsel for those who are game served with

a strawberry gum, chilli and native lime dipping sauce.

Bush Dampers served with a selection of Australian Native Jams

Desserts

Lemon Myrtle Cheesecake

Served with fresh cream and rainforest plum coulis.

Chocolate and Wattleseed Cheesecake

Served with Chocolate Grande Marnier Sauce

Quandong and Mixed Berry Pie

Beverages

A selection of Native Teas and Wattle Seed Coffee

If you are interested in stocking Outback Chef products please let me know......

VICTORIA

PROVINICIAL GOURMET FOOD & GIFTS, Doncaster Shoppingtown, Doncaster

THREE DUCKS GLUTEN FREE, Burnley Street, Richmond

KURANGA NATIVE NURSERY, Croydon

SOMETHING AUSSIE, North Melbourne

TREEHOUSE GALLERY,  Birregurra

LEO'S FINE FOOD & WINE, Heidelberg

LEO'S FINE FOOD & WINE, Kew

LEO'S FINE FOOD & WINE, Hartwell

MAXI STORES. Ferntree Gully

MAXI FOODS, Blackburn North

MAXI SUPERMARKET, East Ringwood

IGA, Fairfield

JEFFRIES FAMILY SUPERMARKET, IGA, Croydon

GATEWAY ESTATE, Coldstream

AUMAN FAMIL ORCHARD, Warrandyte

YERING STATION, Yering

YARRA VALLEY DAIRY, Yering

WARBURTON PANTRY, Warburton

TULLY'S CORNER PRODUCE STORE, Mornington

OLD TEA SHOPPE, Warburton

THE SANSCTARY, Healesville

DARWILLIFARM, Canterbury & Brighton

NSW

TUMUT VISITORS CENTRE, Tumut

YAAMA GANU CENTRE, Moree

TALI GALLERY, Rozelle

NGUNYA JARJUM, Casino

QLD

REDLANDS INDISCAPES CENTRE, Capalaba

DREAMTIME KULLILLA, Redcliffe

WA

YEUN WING GENERAL STORE, Broome

REEVES ON CAMPBELL, Albany

IGA, Denmark

It has been estimated that there are at least 5,000 different native food species that were gathered and hunted by the Aboriginal population.  This unique food has been just about forgotten since the arrival of the European settlers.  The loss of traditional land and the loss the of knowledge that was handed down from generation to generation amongst the Aboriginal population meant that Australia's native food was not developed as part of our day to day diet.

I'ts now great to see the emergence of native food amongst non Indigenous  people.  It just makes sense to make the most of what grows naturally in this country.  It has developed naturally with Australia's environment;  resistant to the extremes of climate as well as many of the pests that prove problems with the introduced species.

If you want to try something a little different, why not give Bush Tomato Popcorn a go.  I got this recipe idea from Australia on a Silver Platter....

"We used the ordinary popcorn (not the microwave one) and popped it in a deep pot with macademia oil and crushed garlic.  when ready, we added generously butter and ground bush tomato.  Gourmet popcorn for the adults too!"

It's always interesting to hear the various and inventive ideas that people come up with using Australian native food.  If you've got any I'd love to hear from you and don't mind sharing them on line.

I think this popcorn would really how the "wow" factor if it was served with guests.....most people love popcorn, once you start eating it you can't stop, so be sure to give this recipe a go.