Native Plants and Spices Archives - Page 2 of 2

Are Bush Foods Superfoods?

July 9, 2014 By Julie Weatherhead Leave a Comment

Australian bush foods show tremendous potential in many ways particularly in providing health benefits, so I think they could be superfoods. Testing at the CSIRO and comparing to Blueberry has revealed that plants such as Lemon Myrtle, Anise Myrtle and Mountain Pepper (these grow well in Victorian gardens) contain high levels of antioxidants, Vitamin E, Vitamin B and lutein (keeps the macular in the eye healthy). These plants also contain very high levels of micronutrients such as Magnesium, Zinc and Calcium.

The best news is that these benefits are released with heat, so all you have to do is to put a few fresh leaves into a teapots, add hot water a brew yourself a pot of goodness. The fresh leaves can also be chopped up and put into any dish you fancy to add wonderful flavours.

I like to use Lemon Myrtle to replace lemongrass in curries, added to sweet muffins, or steeped in hot milk to make wonderful custards, pannacotta and ice cream. Lemon Myrtle is an essential ingredient to my Warrigal Greens Pesto recipe.

Mountain Pepper gives a lovely pepper/chilli kick to any dish, have a go yourself and experiment with these amazing flavours.

To grow Lemon Myrtle give it a little protection in the garden – to the south of a larger shrub, it prefers not to be hit with hot or cold winds, keep it watered for its first summer and also feed with fish and seaweed emulsion and mulch every 3 or so months.

At Peppermint Ridge Farm we are passionate about Australian native foods and spices. We run bush food cooking classes, tours of our Australian Spice Garden, and foodie events on site in Tynong North, Victoria. We are also available for private functions. Find us on our website: www.peppermintridgefarm.com.au.

Lemon Myrtle Tea Infusion

June 24, 2014 By Julie Weatherhead Leave a Comment

Lemon Myrtle is a wonderful native spice. We make a delicious Lemon Myrtle Tea Infusion daily and really enjoy the benefits. Here are some quick tips on how to use this bush food:

Lemon Myrtle Tea Infusion

We make Lemon Myrtle tea everyday – it is very uplifting. All you have to do is to pick a handful of fresh leaves from the bush and put into a tea pot. Pour in the boiling water and let steep for 5 minutes.

If you don’t have access to fresh Lemon Myrtle leaves, we sell packets of dried Lemon Myrtle Tea at Peppermint Ridge Native Food.

The tea is highly aromatic and full of antioxidants, Vitamins E & B, Iron, Magnesium and lots of calcium. It also has Lutein that is a compound that helps keep the macular in your eye healthy – pretty good eh? The tea has no caffeine or tannins – we drink at least 2 pots every day.

Lemon Myrtle Oil.

The oil from Lemon Myrtle can be extracted by steam – try a few drops in your bath or mix with olive oil for a wonderful dressing.

Growing Lemon Myrtle.

It grows well in Victorian gardens. It prefers some protection from hot and drying summer winds and winter frosts. I grow it to the south of larger shrubs which give the ideal protection. In my garden it grows to about 2.5 to 3 metres tall. If you’d like to try growing your own Lemon Myrtle, we propogate and sell Lemon Myrtle plants at our bush food nursery so you can grow them in your backyard.

Fantastic Warrigal Greens

June 11, 2014 By Julie Weatherhead 2 Comments

We have been growing Warrigal Greens at Peppermint Ridge for many years and we really enjoy its distinctive flavour. The plant scrambles over the ground and acts as a great ground cover to shade out weeds. If we get too many growing we feed the excess to our chickens and sheep – they love them. You can hang a bunch of them the chicken yard and they have a great time pecking and eating the leaves.

Warrigal Greens are high in nutrients, particularly Vitamin C and iron. They need to be blanched before eating as the leaves contain oxalic acid – this dissolves into the hot water. The cooked leaves can then be used as a side dish, or made into spinach pies and quiches.

I make a great pesto with them and add lots of Lemon Myrtle and Mountain Pepper. They are great as a green vegetable, after blanching melt butter over the top and a squeeze of lemon juice – goes with anything!

A cooking tip if you are using them for a specific dish is to squeeze out excess water from handfuls of them before making a cheese and spinach pie, pesto or quiche. I have added a pic of me harvesting the warrigal greens for the bush food cooking school last weekend.