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Old Man
Saltbush is a familiar sight over large areas of the dry
inland of Australia. It is a sprawling grey-blue shrub, up to 3 metres
high and sometimes spreading to 5 metres wide. It is a long living
plant, growing strongly after periods of summer rain, producing
long tassels of flowering seed heads. In old times indigenous
Australians mostly collected the minute Saltbush seeds to grind and
roast for damper.
As kids we used them to practice for Track and
Field events like hurdling.
A special selection of Old Man Saltbush
has been developed by Outback Pride's Mike
Quarmby for the gourmet food industry. Mike was involved in providing
millions of saltbush seedlings to the re-vegetation and pastoral
industry in order to rehabilitate degraded land. He soon realized that
overgrazing had removed the best types of saltbush from rangelands, and
only the bitter leafed plants were left. Mike undertook a lengthy
journey to find natural stands of Saltbush that had been protected from
overgrazing.
Mike
established selection trial plots, with the end result being a much
improved saltbush form, which is quite different in flavour to the hard
grown wild plant. When grown in hot house conditions, it provides a
large leafed vegetable, with a natural range of mineral salts,
antioxidants, calcium and 27% crude protein.
The
large fresh or blanched Saltbush leaves can be used as a wrap
around meat or fish, in salads or as a leafy bed for grilled meat or
vegetables. The dried Saltbush flakes are a wonderful addition to
bread, grills, pasta and as a pot herb.
The Desert in
Bloom
Version 1: 
INGREDIENTS:
1 ripe avocado
1
teaspoon Outback Pride Desert
Flakes
Salt to taste
This simple dish can be used as a dip or
spread on hot toast. The combination of Saltbush, Kutjera,
Wattleseed, Lemon Myrtle, Mountain Pepper, Salt & Garlic combined with the creaminess of ripe
avocado is sensational.
Peel and deseed an avocado. Mash with Desert Flakes and, if required, extra salt
Version 2 of The Desert in Bloom:
Mash one ripe avocado and add 6 grinds of Oz Tukka
Artesian Salt and 24 grinds of Oz Tukka
Wild Citrus Grind.
Bush Breadcrumbs
1 cup
breadcrumbs
1 1/2 teaspoon saltbush
flakes
1 1/2 teaspoon mountain
pepper flakes
3 teaspoons native
thyme
1 teaspoon (kutjera) Bush
Tomato
Combine breadcrumbs and all herbs on a large
plate. Feel free to adjust the quantities and types of herbs used
according to what you have, and to your taste. Crumb your chosen meat in
the usual way and cook.
You can make a crumb for fish and simply
replace the bush tomato with sea parsley.
Saltbush Turkey Rissoles
500gm
Turkey mince
1 egg
half teaspoon mountain
pepper
heaped teaspoon saltbush
half
teaspoon sea parsley
pinch
of artesian salt.
1 onion
diced.
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Allow to rest for half
an hour before using a dessertspoon to form into round balls and then
roll in flour. Place in the fridge for half an hour before throwing on
the BBQ. Excellent with Outback Pride
Kutjera Sauce.
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