Five bush tucker treats to try

We’re showing our appreciation of our beautiful natural bushland and the world’s oldest living culture by sharing these delicious bush tucker plants. Why not try using these ingredients in your home cooking to create some flavours that are genuinely Australian?

Chocolate Lily (Arthropodium strictum)

This perennial herb holds a few tasty secrets. Its flower has a chocolate scent that makes a great addition to salads, and you can roast its tubers for a treat that tastes like hot chips.

Bulbine Lily (Bulbine bulbosa)

This beautiful flower is also known by the surprising name of wild onion. It’s very nutritious, as its corms contain both calcium and iron. For a yummy snack, slice them thinly, sprinkle them with salt and pop them in the oven to make the ideal chemical-free chip.

Purple Coral Pea or Happy Wanderer (Hardenbergia violacea)

Sweeten up your afternoon tea with the Purple Coral Pea. This climbing species is well known for its vividly coloured, pea-shaped petals – but did you know the leaves are edible? You can crush and boil the leaves to make a tea similar in taste to green tea. Who wants a cuppa?

Kurrajong Tree (Brachychiton populneus)

If you like popcorn and coffee, get your hands on some Kurrajong seeds. They come from the native Kurrajong tree found throughout the east coast and were traditionally used to make ‘Johnny Cakes’. Toast them in the oven and eat them whole or ground up. They taste like coffee-flavoured popcorn!

Photo credit: Rach FNQ

Mountain Pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata)

In the autumn months, keep your eyes peeled for mountain pepper plants with their distinctive red berries and silvery-pale leaves. Snippets of the dried leaves can add a spicy burst to your homemade guacamole or salads, while giving you a metabolism-boosting kick.

Photo credit: Megan Hansen

We hope you enjoy your bush tucker treats!

As part of our Thriving on Country program, our Canberra office has teamed up with Icon Water to run the Ngadyung Program. This is a program for ACT school students, where they learn about simple and effective ways to care for waterways, and can create their own Ngunnawal bush tucker garden. They also get a chance to try bush tucker treats! Proud to be inspiring the next generations by sharing Indigenous culture.