National winner of the World Gourmand Cookbook Award for Food Heritage and shortlisted for the international award to be announced in May 2017 in China.

They taste great, have amazing health benefits, and grow beautifully in our backyards – so why aren’t we growing and consuming more native Australian edible plants? Julie Weatherhead, an environmental scientist and ecologist from West Gippsland, Victoria, hopes to change that.

Australian Native Food Harvest: A Guide for the Passionate Cook and Gardener provides practical advice for growing, harvesting, and using Australian native plants in the garden and kitchen, whilst exploring Australia’s lost opportunities to fully appreciate the wealth of traditional knowledge in relation to the uses of its native plants.

Australian Native Food Harvest is inspired by Julie’s experiences in growing and using Australian native plants over 20 years at Peppermint Ridge Farm. These experiences have enabled her to identify the tastiest native food plants that will thrive in native and cool climates.

Drawing on her education in permaculture and her own experience developing native food gardens, Julie provides inspiration and useful tips to help you design your own attractive, sustainable native garden that can provide habitat for native wildlife, featuring plants that can survive without much maintenance and taste great in the kitchen.

The book showcases her selection of 30 plants suitable for sub-tropical, temperate and cool climate regions that she knows will thrive – and a further 11 for those with larger spaces, extra habitat species have also been included for those wanting to increase habitat in their home gardens. The tastes of these selected plants are quite unique and the health benefits are astounding.

Over 50 easy-to-follow recipes featuring native Australian flavours to use at home are included in the book as well. The recipes are a culmination of years of experimenting with the flavours and textures of the plants and demonstrate how easy it is to incorporate them into your everyday diet.

The recipes are also tested many times over in Peppermint Ridge Farm’s Schoolhouse Cafe and are designed to be accessible for cooks of all experience levels.

About the Author:

Julie Weatherhead is a native food plant specialist. She has over 20 years experience in growing and cooking with Australia’s unique edible plants. Her research has focused particularly on the nutritional, environmental and culinary properties of these foods.

Julie is an ecologist and environmental scientist and also a  keen gardener and cook who enjoys incorporating the delicious flavours of Australia’s native foods into culinary delights for the table.

With husband Anthony Hooper, she runs the Living Classroom at Peppermint Ridge Farm, which includes the Schoolhouse Café and the Cornucopia Living Heritage Centre at Tynong North in Victoria.

Julie and Anthony have led workshops at Peppermint Ridge since 1996, teaching others about native foods, organic vegetable gardening and sustainable land management. This is Julie’s second book.

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