Last week, we decided to start an online conversation about the adverse reaction to restaurant meals we have had that contain too much salt. Read more about it at the post here. We’ve received numerous responses in agreement–many people feel the same way! Natalie, a guest at Peppermint Ridge, sums up a sentiment we received via email…
We are expecting a bumper harvest here at Peppermint Ridge as the spring rains have given everything a surge. The Finger Lime bushes are heavy with fruit, the Mountain Pepper berries are looking very plump and the Blue Quandongs have fruited for the first time – can’t wait to taste them! We have been testing…
We had a very special family time over the June long weekend. We all worked together to bake pizza in our woodfired oven flavoured with the native food spices of Lemon Myrtle, Mountain Pepper, Native Thyme and Strawberry Gum. These recipes are featured in our new Peppermint Ridge Farm book on growing and cooking with…
With the latest cold front to arrive, I can definitely tell that winter is coming. And of course, like clockwork, I’ve come down with a nasty cold to welcome the season. When I got sick as a child, my mum used to make me boiled ginger tea with a squeeze of lemon. At the time, I wasn’t…
For Anzac day every year, I make these delicious Lemon Myrtle Anzac Biscuits that add a native Australian twist to this traditional treat. Anzac biscuits were originally sent to soldiers in World War I because they kept long enough to survive the long journey. It has been claimed that the original Anzac biscuits from Queensland actually had…
Earlier this week, I posted an article about the wonderful flavours and exciting benefits of Strawberry Gum (Eucalyptus olida), including a recipe for my Strawberry Gum Bliss Balls. I’d like to share another one of my favourite Strawberry Gum recipes with you–this one is versatile and can be made into either a custard or ice…
We have been experimenting with Strawberry Gum (Eucalyptus olida) here at Peppermint Ridge as the dried leaves make a wonderful spice. The fresh leaves are fine to use in cooking too and will keep in a ziplock bag in the fridge for weeks. Strawberry Gum is a very rare tree from Northern New South Wales…
I love experimenting with our wonderful bush foods. It is so easy to invent new dishes if you have the plants growing in your garden – just like the other herbs we are used to growing. Many of them like to grow in pots so you can keep them close to the kitchen door –…
We have just picked many kilos of our Illawarra plums (Podocarpus elatus). The Illawarra Plum is a small plant indigenous to New South Wales and Queensland. It is also called a Brown Pine and has a false fruit which is a fleshy sweet stalk attached to a big stone which makes it easy to harvest the…
Autumn is my favourite time of year at the farm as the days are mild with light soaking rain and the weather very settled. The light seems different and the slanting afternoon light is wonderful viewed from the terrace. The bush food garden is looking its best and with all three layers now well grown…
My aim is to encourage foodies and gardeners to plant Australian herbs and spice plants into their own gardens and have them ready to harvest every day. I have been using Lemon Myrtle and Mountain Pepper in a wide range of dishes to great effect. I have found the best way is to grind both…
We continue to experiment with our Australian Spices, full of flavour and punch and then add all of those vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and lutein (keeps your macular healthy) how can you lose? We have been blending the spices and have some great combinations. Our favourite at the moment is Mountain Pepper and Lemon Myrtle. Add…
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…
Hummus is one of my favourite fast food treats. I am sharing a much loved hummus recipe that I have created to showcase the wonderful flavours of bush foods. My passion is to encourage people to grow Australian spices in their own backyard – you can then use these native spices in everyday recipes. Experiment with these flavors…
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…
Autumn 2017 has brought our first harvest of lemon myrtle honey from our 3 hives. Many thanks to Meg Platte from the Bunyip Beekeeping Group for setting up and maintaining the hives for us. The honey does have a distinctive floral taste due to the large crop of lemon myrtle flowers that the bees have…
Our native Small Leaved Tamarind has fruited for the first time and we are excited to be able to use the fruit for the first time in the Schoolhouse for our event on April 23. The bright orange juicy flesh makes delicious sauces and jams with a tart and distinctive tangy taste. We plan to make…
Hi again! It was a busy summer here at Peppermint Ridge as we’ve moved from monthly events to fortnightly lunches on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month (come visit us)! Our native garden is flourishing and we love this time of year as the lemon myrtles are flowering, giving the bees a lovely nectar meal…
The bush food garden here at Peppermint Ridge Farm continues to thrive and we are 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…
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…
We are always thinking up new ideas here at Peppermint Ridge for using bush foods to encourage others to put these wonderful plants in their gardens. We know that as soon as we increased the diversity of plants in our gardens the diversity of native animals and insects increased too. We now have an exciting…
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…
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…
Do you love going out for restaurant meals? Do you suffer later from a reaction to heavily salted foods? We really love going out to enjoy someone else’s cooking but we often suffer a reaction from the excessive salt used in the dishes. We can’t sleep, our heart rate is elevated, we are very thirsty and…
The Schoolhouse at Peppermint Ridge Farm is open on select Sundays. Bookings essential–request a booking here.
