Bush foods have been part of the Indigenous diet for generations, and they grow all around us. But some species are under threat as cities expand and the climate gets hotter.
Finger limes are native to southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, and one of the most common natives to be cultivated for commercial use.
It is marketed as"citrus caviar," for the fruit's small, pearl-like fruit, with a taste very similar to common lemons and limes. Horticulturist Bruce Thompson, who has been involved in cultivating bush food for decades, said many natives could supplement the traditional western diet. "We have grass in Australia that can be turned into flour, so kangaroo grass, wallaby grass … but also a lot of edible citrus," he said.
"You've got native guava, native passionfruit, the finger limes, instead of traditional lemons and limes."According to Mr Thompson it is a straight-up Australian alternative to more the well-known peppermint and spearmint."Australians are very dispossessed from our knowledge of plants, but if we let the plants grow that are endemic to the area, you bring back that diversity into the whole ecosystem," he said.
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