CERES Nursery in Brunswick in Melbourne is holding a workshop on growing indigenous plants. I have been to CERES community environment part many times and enjoyed the odd cup of coffee there. It's a wonderful place to visit. CERES holds a huge range of workshops and this one in particular, I think, is well-worth attending.

Interested in growing indigenous plants and edible bush food plants?

This is an inspiring and informative workshop in which you will be immersed in the taste, texture and tantalising variety of our native food plants.

The teacher, Justin Caverley, is a landscape designer with 15 years experience in the horticulture industry. He has taught regular CERES workshops in organic gardening, fruit tree pruning, indigenous plants and Permaculture. Justin has extensive property design experience
and has also worked at the CERES Nursery. Justin is a regular broadcaster on 3RRR's "Dirty Deeds", and presenter on Ch 31's "The Garden Tap".

I had an unusual request a few weeks back, Rachel Sims a student at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales  was doing a design project on Bush Tucker, she asked for a lot of different seeds, herbs and spices to complete the work.  She kindly sent the finished project to me to take a look and I was blown away, it is fantastic. 

"The aim of the project to establish new behaviours and attitudes towards Australia's native cuisine. The intent is to educate urban dwellers, redirecting their practice and broadening their knowledge of native food consumption" quote from Rachel's project

After being involved in Aboriginal art and culture for many years it has been a bit of an uphill battle to get non indigenous Australians to take the time to reflect on the paintings or try bush food.  After seeing a project like Rachel's it really gives me much joy to realize that the message has not ony got thru as to the importance of this land and what it produces, but also, that the message is understood.

"The quintessence of the project is to objectify bush tucker being an essential part of urban and rural Australia" quote from Rachel's project

Art reflects the emotions of the people at the time, it always has and always will.....Australian Aboriginal Art is now recognized as a world-wide art movement and as Australians we embrace it in every way, from the gifts that we give to overseas visitors to large companies like Qantas and at events such as our Olympic Games, proudly displaying Aboriginal icons and motifs.

The bush food industry is still in it's early days, but I am hopeful that within the next few years each Australian kitchen cupboard will have some food that is a native to this land and be able to incorporate it into their own every-day cooking with confidence. 

Rachel has kindly let me put a link thru to her project, please take the time to reflect on it and enjoy, not only the work that she's put into it, but also the valuable message.

Project 'Bush Tucker Taste Tradition'

It's been a while since my last blog as my travels have been far and wide.  After a lot of packing and upheavel I've finally landed in Melbourne...a big change from the Sunshine Coast, but an exciting one.

Before coming to Melbourne I went on a trip up to Mission Beach and beyond seeking more bushfood and contacts.  It's been a lot of years since I've been there, although a few more exotic looking homes, not much seems to have changed, it's a fantastic place with the sugar cane fields and the banana plantations and lovely old Queensland buildings.  I met Annie at Off the Rails, a great coffee shop and giftware...Annie uses a lot of bush food in her cooking, jams, cutchneys, cookies and cakes her place is a taste sensation. 37 Hynes Street, Sth Johnstone (on the road from Mission Beach to Innisfail).

At Innisfail I went to see some crocodiles at the local Croc place, they are quite scary up close...the ranger went into the enclosure with only a long stick and gave us a good educational talk about their habits, I was a little nervy as the gate to the enclose was left wide open and metres between me and the croc, he did explain that if he (meaning the ranger) did a runner to the gate don't get in his way!!! AS IF!!  Also, very close to my heart are our native dingoes, these particular dingoes have been raised sinces pups and are used to people hangdling them (yes, that's me with the dingo...the picture was taken just after he gave me a quick lick across the face and then turned his attention to a wandering rooster!  Don't go cuddling any wild dingoes please.

Another place, one of so many, up Far North Queensland, is Parenella Park...this place is an absolute must see...built by one man in the 1930's the first in Australia to have it's own hydo power set in a botanic gardens of wonderful exotic foliage, a huge waterfall and caves, it's number 1 "must see" on the RACQ list.

from Far North Queensland, with it's heat and humidity to Melbourne...more on that trip later

I had a wonderful time talking to nearly 100 kindergarten teachers from Knox city in Melbourne.  It's fantastic to see such a lot of interest in creating bushfood gardens where the children can see some of our native plants grow and also be able to cook and eat them.  We made wattleseed ice-cream which was a real winner and an easy recipe to make, as well as that a bush tomato sauce with lemon myrtle pasta.  Keep up the good work.

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

HARMONY DAY
Saturday the 8th of October, 11am - 3pm
Cooee Cottage

This event is for the whole community to come along and
experience first hand our local Aboriginal Culture and enjoy the
many traditional aspects of our local Aboriginal community.

 Sample some tasty treats of the Australian bush and
discover the many great flavors you can use to cook with.

 See cultural demonstrations.

 Sit by the fire, chat with a local Elder or listen to stories
from the Dream Time.

 Try your hand at making traditional tools, bush jewellery or
learn to throw a Boomerang painted by you.

For more information regarding the  events, please
contact the Tumut Region Visitors Centre on 
02) 6947 7025, or Cooee Cottage on 02) 6947 3362.

www.tumutregion.com.au

SHELF LIFE EXTENSION OF KANGAROO MEAT USING NATURAL ANTIMICROBIALS

The following information is from research that was done by Dr Yasmina Sultanbawa at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland.

The harvesting of kangaroos for human and pet food consumption has become a significant domestic and export industry in Australia.

At present the pet food industry uses sulphites as a chemical preservative to extend the shelf-life of chilled kangaroo meat.

Sulphites cause thiamine deficiency in low body weight animals (including cats and dogs) and the ffects are exacerbated when the animals are exculsively fed a diet containing high concentrations of sulphite preservatives.

There is a consumer demand for additive free food and the trend is to use natural antimicrobils such as plant extracts as preservatives.  Certain plant extracts are also a rich source of antioxidants which can extend the freshness of the product by preventing oxidation.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the potential of using natural antimicrobils such as plant extracts and organic acids in extending the storage life of chilled kangaroo meat and as an alternative to sulphites as a chemical preservative.

METHODS

Freeze dried water extracts of kakadu and Queensland Davidson plum, lactic acid and citric acid were screened for antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli using a mictotitre assay and the minimum inbigitory concentration was determined.

Different mixtures of natural antimicrobials both in-house and commercial blends were incorporated into kangaroo mince using vacuum and MAP packaging conditions and shelf life was determined over a chilled storage period of 29 days.

Samples from each treatment were taken on storage days 1, 4, 11, 15, 20, 25 and 29 and tested for microbiological, colour, gas chromatography mass spectrometry and sensory analysis.

FINDINGS

Screening of antimicrobial efficacy of kakadu and Queensland Davidson plum with organic acids completed inhibited S. aureus and E. coli.

It retained redness during the storage period and was comparable with the fresh kangaroo mince.  The highest reduction in redness was observed in treatments with 0.2% Oregano essential oil and 0.1% Queensland Davidson plum + 0.1% kakadu plum + 0.25% lactic acid over the 29 day storage period for vacuum packed products.

The most effective treatments observed were with a combination of Queensland Davidson plum + kakadu plum + lactic acid with vacuum packaging at day 20.

GCMS results revealed an increase in alkenes, aldehydes, ketones and alcohols in all treatments in comparison to the fresh kangaroo mince sample.  The highest off-flavour volatiles are present in the control sample without any treatment, indicating that the quality deterioration in the control was the most rapid at chilled storage.

CONCLUSION

Natural antimicrobial blends, both produced in-house and commercially sourced, were effective in extending the shelf-life of fresh kangaroo mince meat at chilled storage temperatures.  Vacuum packaging was more effective in maintaining the quality of fresh kangaroo meat than MAP.  Even though the aerobic bacteria were within the critical microbiological limits the sensory quality of most treatments was not acceptable after 29 days of storage.