Best Australian Native

The finger lime, Citrus australasica, is a thorny shrub or small tree native to the rainforests of eastern Australia. Its elongated fruits contain separate, bead-like juice vesicles that burst when eaten, leading to the culinary description citrus caviar. The fruit occurs in several skin and pulp co...

Dried lemon myrtle consists of the dried leaves of Backhousia citriodora, an aromatic tree native to the subtropical rainforests of eastern Australia. Its strong lemon scent comes principally from citral, which is present at a high concentration in the leaf oil. The crushed or ground leaves are used...

Tasmanian pepper berry (Tasmannia lanceolata) is the fruit of a shrub native to southeastern Australia, including Tasmania. The berries are dark purple to black when dried and contain polygodial, a compound that produces an intense, delayed heat sensation. Indigenous Australians have used both the b...

"Santalum acuminatum", commonly known as the desert quandong, is a small hemiparasitic tree or shrub native to the arid and semi-arid regions of central and southern Australia. The plant is characterized by its edible, bright red, fleshy fruit and large nutritional seeds, which have been a tradition...

The desert lime, scientifically known as Citrus glauca, is a thorny shrub or small tree endemic to the arid inland regions of Australia, including Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia. It is highly adapted to survive extreme drought and frost conditions, producing small, round, yellow-gr...

Riberry (Syzygium luehmannii) is a rainforest tree species native to eastern Australia that produces small pink-red berries. The tree belongs to the Myrtaceae family, which includes other Australian plants like eucalyptus. The fruit has been traditionally consumed by Aboriginal Australians and is no...

Mountain Pepper Berry, derived from the Tasmannia lanceolata shrub, is a plant native to the cool, temperate rainforests of southeastern Australia. Both the plant's dried berries and leaves are commercially harvested, primarily in Tasmania, to be used as a culinary spice. The product imparts a punge...

Kunzea pomifera, commonly referred to as muntries, is a low-growing, prostrate shrub endemic to the southern coastal regions of Australia. The plant produces small, green to purplish edible berries that possess a distinct flavor profile reminiscent of spicy apples. Historically, these berries served...

Wattleseed is the roasted, ground seed of several Australian Acacia species, a staple food of Indigenous Australians for thousands of years with a nutty, coffee-like flavor used in modern bush-food cuisine.

Midyim berry, Austromyrtus dulcis, is a low-growing shrub in the myrtle family native to coastal eastern Australia. It bears small, rounded fruit that ripen pale white or gray and are characteristically marked with darker spots; the flesh is sweet and aromatic. The fruit has long been eaten as bush...

Davidson plum, Davidsonia jerseyana, is a small rainforest tree native to a restricted part of coastal New South Wales, Australia. It produces dark purple fruit with red flesh and a markedly sour, acidic flavor, despite its common name referring to a plum. The fruit is used in Australian bush-food p...

Dried akudjura is a seasoning made from dried and often ground bush tomato, most commonly the Central Australian species Solanum centrale. The fruit has a long history as a food among Aboriginal peoples of arid Australia and is now also used in contemporary Australian cooking. Drying concentrates it...

Dried finger lime caviar consists of dehydrated juice vesicles from the Australian finger lime, Citrus australasica. Fresh finger limes are distinguished by separate bead-like vesicles that spill from the fruit and burst when bitten, giving rise to the culinary name "citrus caviar." In dried form, t...

Kutjera, also called desert raisin, is the fruit of Solanum centrale, a perennial plant native to the arid and semi-arid regions of Australia. Aboriginal Australian communities have long gathered the small fruits as bush food, eating them fresh, dried, or ground and mixed with other ingredients. The...

The Illawarra plum, Podocarpus elatus, is an evergreen conifer native to rainforest and coastal forest areas of eastern Australia, including New South Wales and Queensland. Unlike a flowering plant, it does not produce a true berry: its seed sits on a swollen, fleshy, dark purple receptacle that is...

Rubus parvifolius, commonly called native raspberry or small-leaf bramble, is a scrambling shrub in the rose family. It occurs naturally in eastern Australia and parts of eastern Asia, with arching stems, pink flowers, and small red aggregate fruits that are edible when ripe. The species is of inter...

Dried riberry is the dehydrated fruit of Syzygium luehmannii, an evergreen rainforest tree native to eastern Australia and commonly known as riberry or small-leaved lilly pilly. The fruit has a tart, cranberry-like character with aromatic notes often compared with cloves. It is used as an Australian...

An Australian rainforest tree in the myrtle family producing purple to red berries long consumed by Aboriginal Australians and used in commercial bush food cuisine.

Microcitrus australis, native to Queensland, Australia, produces small round fruits used in cooking and is also cultivated as rootstock for commercial citrus trees.

A rainforest tree endemic to Queensland, Australia, lemon aspen produces small yellow fruits with sharp citrus flavor used in Indigenous bush tucker and contemporary cuisine.

A coastal shrub native to Queensland and the Northern Territory, cedar bay cherry produces small edible red fruits belonging to the Myrtaceae family.

Microcitrus inodora, native to Far North Queensland's rainforest near the Russell River, is the largest of Australia's native lime species and notable for its very mild aroma.