Having your bush food garden and eating it too!

January 6, 2015 By Julie Weatherhead Leave a Comment

The bush food garden here at Peppermint Ridge Farm continues to thrive and we are

Anise Myrtle

enjoying watching all of the fruits fatten and the edible leaves glowing. The anise myrtle has a particular secret. If you eat the the new red leaves you will discover they taste like a soft sweet licorice lolly but without the sugar – bonus. The mature leaves are high in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals so perhaps the immature ones have some of these properties too.

The mature leaves make a wonderfully refreshing tea as well as great ice cream.

One of my interests is in encouraging gardeners to add bush foods to their flower and vegetable gardens. This year we have watched the growth of the finger limes, native blueberries, midyim berries, native currants and pepper berries and continue to propagate these in our bush food nursery.

Some of these fruits have very high nutritional qualities – the currant has very high levels of vitamin C, the pepper berries are high in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Not all of the fruits have been tested by food scientists, but anecdotal evidence of the native blueberry discusses upset stomachs from eating too many of them. This could be due to a high level of nutrients or a presence of toxins, so caution in eating untested plants is always advised and never go eating fruits or leaves on forest walks as some plants are proven to be toxic (always buy your edible native plants from a reliable and knowledgeable source).

Not only do the tested fruits taste wonderful, the plants are very attractive additions to garden design. These plants are easily grown organically as they are not susceptible to attack by fungus, bacteria or insects – this is from 16 years of trials here. Some plants need a little protection from strong hot & cold winds and dry soil such as the Mountain Pepper and Lemon Myrtle, bit most are tolerant of tough conditions.

It is a lot of fun making up new recipes for these wonderful plants, and over the Christmas break we made up a new recipe for our macadamia, salted caramel and chocolate tarts. The new base is a bit softer and has a lovely chewy texture which we think is a great improvement on the original recipe. The whole eating experience is one of a toasted macadamia biscuit base, a soft gooey salted caramel centre and a crisp dark chocolate topping. This recipe will feature at our next cooking school class next month.

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.

Finger Limes and Mountain Pepper growing well at Peppermint Ridge

December 10, 2014 By Julie Weatherhead Leave a Comment

This new summer rain has given a great growth boost to our bush food plants. We will have a great crop of finger limes and mountain pepper and the new anise myrtle plants are growing fast in their pots. I have been experimenting with grinding up the fresh leaves of our native herbs with salt and garlic, ginger would be good too – even better to use the native ginger. These ‘herb crumbs’ spice up any dish.

Anise myrtle with strawberries and rhubarb poached in pomegranate juice

We are doing a lot of experimenting and love anise myrtle – have made an amazing ice cream with it that we teamed with our own strawberries and rhubarb poached in pomegranate juice. Last week we marinated pork belly with anise myrtle before slow cooking it – the result was amazing – it creates quite a different flavour.

That’s the thing about bush foods, the flavours they produce are hard to describe because there is often nothing to compare them to. Strawberry gum is a good example – the oil in the leaf smells a bit of strawberry, passionfruit and vanilla – quite unique. But when you team it with your favourite dishes it creates whole new wonderful flavours that defy description. Try it and let me know if you agree.

Here at Peppermint Ridge we are thinking about how to create a Christmas lunch for our family that is spiced with Australian flavours, we will then carry that on to creating a truly different Australia Day lunch on Monday Jan 26 as our first event for 2015.

I think the finger limes should be great marinating fresh salmon and we love creating fresh sorbets with them. Have a look at some shots I have just taken of some of our crops that are growing fast – finger lime and mountain pepper. I have added a pic of our kangaroo family that doesn’t mind coming up close to the house.

Bush Food Cooking School Recipe: Native Creative Pickled Carrot

June 7, 2014 By Julie Weatherhead 2 Comments

Native Creative Pickled Carrot Recipe

Today we ran a new cooking school called an Asian Style Lunch with an Australian Twist. After a recent trip to Malaysia and Vietnam, I thought our lovely Australian Spices would fit perfectly with many Asian dishes – the lunch recipes are a result of that thinking. Here is a pic of my take on Vietnamese pickled carrot: a Native Creative Pickled Carrot recipe. The recipe is easy and will keep for weeks in the fridge.I put these carrots into spring rolls, stir fried vegetables and San Choy Bao.

Pickled Carrot with Anise Myrtle

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Author: Julie Weatherhead

Ingredients

500g small carrots - sliced or finely julienned
2 tbsp anise myrtle - finely chopped
3 fresh red chilies - finely sliced
3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
2 cups rice wine vinegar
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
⅓ tsp sugar

Instructions

Prepare carrots and place in a large jar.
Add anise myrtle, chilies, and garlic.
In a small saucepan, boil the vinegar, water, salt & sugar for 5 minutes.
Cool and store in the refrigerator.
Pour liquid over the carrots and leave for 24 to 48 hours before eating.
Enjoy!