Our Saltbush is grown in South Australia by Indigenous Australian growers within our supply chain. This species is often called Old Man Saltbush.
The leaves of the Saltbush are dried and ground and provide us with a unique seasoning that gives that essential umami element to food - instead of using salt.
Use as a salt substitute in anything and everything! Add it onto the top of a focaccia or a sourdough for both flavour and nutritive value. Combine with other herbs for a special spice mix. Add the dried, ground leaves to aolis or dressings. Make a Saltbush and Pepper Squid or sprinkle of hand cut chips and it is perfect to rub on a prime cut before grilling or roasting.
The plant absorbs the salts of sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium in its leaves and is also an excellent source of protein, vitamins and contains beneficial calcium and other trace minerals. and is a rich source of antioxidants. And using Saltbush as a salty taste for food seasoning, provides these salts that also happen to be hard to come by in other foods but are essential for human health.
The actual sodium level in Saltbush, despite it's name and growing habits, is a fraction of the sodium found in table salt for example - 630mg per 100 g in Saltbush compared to 37800mg per 100g for cooking salt! Of course no-one would ever consume 100g of salt or saltbush in one helping. Let's break it down to a per serve ratio of 2g (approx 1 teaspoon)
NUTRITION INFORMATION | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Servings per package: |
15
|
|||
Serving size: | 2 | g | ||
Average Quantity per Serving |
Average Quantity per 100 g |
|||
Energy | 2.2 | kJ | 112 | kJ |
Protein | 0.1 | g | 3.6 | g |
Fat, total | 0 | g | 0.3 | g |
- saturated | 0 | g | 0 | g |
Carbohydrate | 0 | g | 0.1 | g |
- sugars | 0 | g | 0 | g |
Sodium | 13 | mg | 636 | mg |
Provenance and the Plant
River Mint is a mint species within the genus Mentha. and is a native of eastern Australia, but it does occur in every state and territory except Western Australia. It is also naturalized on the North Island of New Zealand. It is usually found in the wild near rivers and creeks.
Mentha is a genus of 25-30 species, occurring in Europe, Asia, North America and with about 7 species in Australia. A number of the exotic species and hybrids are common culinary herbs and other herbs such as thyme, oregano and sage belong to the same family.
Native mints are not often seen in cultivation but they are useful plants for a sunny or shady, moist situation and have culinary uses similar to introduced mint. The leaves of M.australis have a fresh spearmint aroma and flavour. Under optimum conditions it can become invasive but it is usually a difficult plant to grow and success is often more achievable when grown in a container.
However there have been a few growers who have focussed on River Mint and are now growing commercial crops. We have been supporting for some years, through our contributions to the Outback Spirit Foundation , Dominic Smith of Pundi Produce in the Riverland region of SA, who has become the most successful grower in the country of this beautiful herb using an aquaponic system to ensure the plant has similar conditions as on or near to a creek bed. We are also supporting Newchurch Horticulture, operated by Daniel and Ron Newchurch, an Adelaide based successful and enterprising Indigenous owned farm that is also growing River Mint and many other herb plants very successfully.
We are very proud that we source our River Mint through these two Indigenous owned and managed farms.
Dominic Smith from Pundi Produce
Ron Newchurch of Newchurch Horticulture on site in SA's Yorke Peninsula
Culinary Use
River Mint, fresh or dried is an intensely flavoured herb so you must use it with discretion. It has a vibrantly fresh, spearminty flavour that has so many applications.
It is perfect of course as a traditional herb to season meats such as lamb, pork, veal and chicken. And boy, it makes a mean mint sauce when infused in a great vinegar. We always have a stock of pepperberry vinegar on hand and making a mint sauce with this and River Mint is to die for!
You can add it dressings to impart that fresh mint flavour, but do use judiciously as it is intense and the flavour keeps developing over a day or so.
In spring when peas are so delicious, try making a gorgeous Fresh Green Pea and River Mint Soup to dazzle your next dinner guests. And of course with the availability of frozen young green peas from the supermarket you can make this at any time.
It works beautifully in desserts too. Add a scant ¼ teaspoon to a sponge or genoise mix for example or a very delicate River Mint panna Cotta.
Some suggested ways to use River Mint are:
Vietnamese style Chicken salad with River Mint and Coriander
Fresh Green Pea and River Mint Soup with Native Mint Yoghurt
Sweet Potato and River Mint Ravioli with Burnt Butter Sauce
River Mint and Garlic Butter
Roast Loin of Pork with River Mint and Apple Stuffing and Wild Herb Salt Scented Crackling
River Mint and Mustard Lamb Fillets with Quandong and Peach Sauce
French Toast with Fetta Apple Onion and River Mint
Health Benefits
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Provenance and the Plant
The biological activity of polygodial has been reported in the scientific literature to include antifungal and antimicrobial activities and antihyperalgesia which helps reduce pain. As mentioned above there is a history of Aboriginal people using the crushed Mountain pepper leaves or Pepperberries as a pain reliever for toothache and other ailments.
We can certainly attest to its active antifungal activity. A Cheesemaker we know wanted to flavour his Brie with Mountain Pepper. We explained that it had antifungal properties but he was not deterred and proceeded to make a small trial batch and none of the Bries developed the essential mould due to the activity of the Mountain Pepper- well we did tell him!
This means that adding Mountain Pepper to a dish may mean that it will keep longer due to the antifungal and antimicrobial elements. We like to rub our steaks with these delicious herbs and let them marinade for a day and not only is the flavour amazing but the Mountain Pepper keeps the meat fresh and seems to tenderise it also.
Mountain pepper has not only served Indigenous people as a flavouring agent for food over generations, but by and large, as a traditional medicine. Due to its high level of antioxidants, mountain pepper has been documented as a treatment for a variety of illnesses fromstomach aches and colic,to skin disorders and venereal diseases.
With potent antioxidants, four times more powerful than the beloved blueberry, mountain pepper’s health benefits are just as useful today as they have been over centuries. Antioxidants are linked to helping with diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases, and more recent research highlights mountain pepper’s unique antiviral properties.
Dr Ian Cock, senior lecturer in Biomolecular and Physical Sciences at Griffith University told SBS recently, “The berry inhibits the growth of many pathogenic bacteria, protozoa and also has some limited antiviral activity. It also has good anti-cancer activity against multiple cancer cell lines.”
Also striking: the plant’s antibacterial properties. With antimicrobial components, mountain pepper has been found to inhibit the growth of food poisoning bacteria and prevent food spoilage, which Dr Cock's research demonstrates.
So you can use these herbs safely knowing they will help keep your food fresh, as well as imparting a fantastic flavour and adding very important antioxidants to your diet - a true Superfood Indeed!
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This must be kept airtight so as to not absorb moisture from the air.
It is best kept in a dark place, such as inside a cupboard to mitigate the effects of oxidisation from light. This is not harmful but will cause the flakes to discolour and lose some of their phyto-chemical activity.
Provenance and the Plant
Just the name of this fabulous little fruit is evocative and excites the cook's imagination! What can it be like? Out of a wonderful field of candidates, the Wild Lime is doubtless among the elite in terms of flavour and visual beauty. It resembles a perfect miniature lime, and its flavour is closely aligned to the West Indian Lime. Unlike other citrus it has a very porous and very thin skin, but the juicy segmented flesh is just like other citrus - but on a much smaller scale. The skin and flesh both, are a yellowish, lime greenish colour.
Australia's Wild Lime is a true citrus. It is very juicy and this is surprising as it is classified botanically as a xerophyte, that is, a drought-tolerant plant that actually thrives in hot and dry climates. The Wild Lime is the only member of the orange sub-family that is able to withstand severe drought and hot, dry winds. When these conditions occur the tree sheds its leaves and the leafless grey-green twigs carry on photosynthesis at a reduced rate. When conditions ease, the leaves grow back. The Wild Lime also has a high tolerance to freezing temperatures. It can withstand, without severe injury, temperatures of 55C below zero! In this respect the Wild Lime ranks a close second to the Chinese cumquat in its resistance to cold. The Wild Lime, in its natural state, is a small , woody tree found on heavy clay soils and it grows in clumps or dense thickets. When young the plant has blue/grey leaves and spiny thorns growing along the branches. More mature plants lose their spines. They usually flower from September and the wonderful fruits follow around late December, in the heat of the summer.
When we began sourcing native Australian ingredients (about 30 years ago!) the only Wild Limes available were those remnant patches on the beef cattle grazing plains of outback Queensland. We had to convince landholders to not clear the patches of Wild Limes. They thought of them as an invasive woody pest but over time we managed to convince many of them to harvest the crops. The image below is a picture of a fully grown Wild Lime out on the black soil plains of Outback Queensland, replete with the ladder ( and landowner) to climb up and pick them - as the fruit always grows on the top crown of the tree! The accompanying photo , by contrast, is of a young Wild Lime plantation that we have supported through the Outback Spirit Foundation, in South Australia.
Our wonderful Wild Limes are plantation grown come from Outback Queensland and Western Australia.
and this is a picture of the limes on the tree being wild harvested as was the only way back in those days
Wild Limes on wild trees - ready to pick
Young Wild Lime plantation in SA
Prolific fruits on cultivated Wild Limes
Culinary Uses
This deliciously tart and acidic fruit tastes strongly of lime (as you would expect) but with a sherbet characteristic and that unique difference that only comes with Indigenous foods. The whole fruit may be used in cooking, if you are lucky enough to have some available. Because of it's miniature size the skin and pips are not obtrusive, so no special preparation is required. You can use whole but we most often chop them finely or make a puree.
Wild Lime has an intense flavour. To give you some idea of it's strength, use a ratio of 10 whole (zest, flesh and juice) wild limes to one West Indian or Tahitian Lime. That may not sound that impressive but these feisty little limes only weigh about one gram each. We have carefully freeze-dried our Wild Limes and made them into a convenient powder for use, as it is very difficult to find fresh or frozen Wild Limes in any market or supermarket, perhaps with a few, limited exceptions. For most of us the freeze-dried Wild Lime Superfruit Powder is a blessing as it can be used so easily is easily stored and is very intense in flavour as it is a concentrated version of the fresh fruit.
We use Wild Limes wherever you would usually use Limes - with seafood, on salads, in drinks, smoothies, and in desserts. We've made a compound butter with our Wild Lime Superfruit Powder combined with fresh basil and unsalted butter - so delicious to use with poultry and seafood. We've made salad dressing to go with a quail egg and prosciutto salad and we've baked buttery friands with Wild Lime Superfruit Powder. It is lovely in a crème Brule too!
Health Benefits
Desert limes show an outstanding amount of Vitamin C: 1% DW- 962 mg/100g DW. Vitamin E content measured 3.999 mg/100g DW) with 88.6% contributed to α –Tocopherol, a powerful lipophilic antioxidant. Lutein measured 1.50 mg/100g DW, which is more than the Australian “Hass” Avocado regarded as one of the primary sources of lutein.
Desert limes are a rich source of Calcium 384.2 mg/ 100 g DW, which is almost ten times the Calcium content of Blueberries. A high potassium: sodium (K:Na) ratio, which may be beneficial to reduce hypertension was also discovered. Of twelve commercially grown and tested native food plants, Desert lime showed the highest source of folate (420µg/100g DW), which is double the recommended daily intake in 100g DW and over 10 times greater than Blueberries.
Desert lime is rich in methoxy flavone ghycosides . Glycosides( which is a flavonoid with high active anti-oxidants) is a skin healer and is used as a natural repairer of the skin. It helps in absorption of vital ingredients needed for good skin and also helps in hydrating the skin keeping it supple and soft.
Desert lime is known to be a significant provider of antioxidant and it also enables a healthy immune system. Aiding the body to resist against various diseases. The main component of the collective tissue collagen's production is also supported by the consumption of this fruit. Another beauty benefit gained from this fruit is that being rich in furanocoumarin, this fruit consist of properties that are anti ageing, skin repairing agent also it heals wounds and aids early skin regeneration.
Desert lime is also very rich in coumarin that helps in acting as a anti fungicidal, has anti-inflammatory benefits and also acts as an anti-oxidant. They are also added in sunscreens as they help in blocking out short wave UV rays that are harmful to the skin.
Typical Nutritional analysis Per 100g Wild Lime fresh fruit | |||
Calories | 80 | Sodium | 100 mg |
Total Fat | 0 g | Potassium | 0 mg |
Saturated | 0 g | Total Carbs | 19 g |
Polyunsaturated | 0 g | Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
Monounsaturated | 0 g | Sugars | 19 g |
Trans | 0 g | Protein | 2 g |
Cholesterol | 0 mg | ||
Vitamin A | 0% | Calcium | 0% |
Vitamin C | 0% | Iron | 0% |
Typical Analysis 100g dried Wild Lime powder
(per 100gm dry weight) | |
Energy | 380kj |
H2O | 77.4g |
Protein | 1.4mg |
Fat | 0.4g |
Carbohydrates | 20.1g |
Total Sugar | 3.6g |
Fibre | - |
Calcium | 384mg |
Cu | .64mg |
Fe | 4.74mg |
Mg | 94.5mg |
P | 127.8mg |
K | 1287mg |
Na | 2.24mg |
Zn | 1.03mg |
Mn | 0.87mg |
Mo | 7.7mg |
K:Na | - |
Folate | - |
Vit E | - |
Aniseed myrtle is considered a “functional” food as it has displayed varying levels of antioxidant activities and anti-microbial activities . These activities can be attributed to two main components found in the plant – anethole and methyl chavicol (citral). The herb has been used traditionally as a sedative and a stimulant for coughs as anethole has been shown to break down respiratory tract secretions. Anethole rich plants such as the Anisata tree are traditionally used by Indigenous Australians as a treatment for digestive problems such as belching, hiccupping and persistent epigastric (upper abdomen) pain. Research additionally has shown that anethole has anti-inflammatory properties. Citral is known to have strong anti-microbial properties.
RIRDC funded research has shown that extracts of aniseed myrtle inhibited the growth of foodborne pathogens such as the cholera-causing bacterium Vibrio cholerae amongst others . The same research also showed that extracts of anisata displayed mild antioxidant activities.
These functionalities ensure that this herb is perfect as a culinary herb as it requires no 'aids' to such as chemical fumigation or irradiation to be safe to eat (as some non-Indigenous herbs and spices do) while delivering some precious phytochemicals as well.
Nutritional information - 30g Lemon Aspen Superfruit Powder
Per 30g | |||
Energy | 15.6kJ | Zinc (ZN) | .5 mg |
Protein |
.2 g |
Magnesium (Mg) |
192 mg |
Total Fat |
0 g |
Calcium(ca) |
17.3 mg |
- saturated fat |
0 g |
Iron (Fe) |
1.7 mg |
Carbohydrates |
.24 g |
Phosphorous (P) |
16.7mg |
-sugars |
.24g |
Potassium (K) |
1966 mg |
sodium |
5.8 mg |
Manganese(Mn) |
1.3 mg |
|
Copper(Cu) | .10 mg |
Finger limes are perfect when paired with seafood. They can also be pickled, juiced, and zested but honestly why would you do anything more!
They provide a unique accent in cocktails, salads, and desserts. Their texture is similar to caviar, with that delicate burst or pop of juice, but of course with a lovely fresh lime flavour that is typically not as sour as Tahitian Limes that we are more used to.
As access to fresh Finger Limes is growing, but still limited, we have freeze-dried the fruit and have a beautiful Finger Lime powder available. This is fabulous used to flavour desserts such as Panna Cotta or sprinkled over a fresh prawn and watermelon salad for a zesty difference or add to a smoothie for extra goodness. It can add a zesty sparkle to gin, vodka and white rum cocktails.
You will find more ideas in our Recipes pages
The small fruits were originally used by Indigenous Australians as a fruit that they would pick and eat as they moved around their Country. They were valued for their taste, and of course they delivered nutritional benefits. The pulp was also used as part of the pharmacopoeia as the pearls were also used for medicinal purposes to ward off sickness and were applied topically as an antiseptic.
Finger Limes may help
Eye Health and Vision - Finger Lime also contains a good level of Vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential for keeping the eyes and your vision in optimum shape. Being a powerful antioxidant, vitamin A safeguards your eyes from damaging free radicals.
Helping skin renewal - Vitamin C found is abundant in Finger Lime and it is very good at is keeping your skin looking it's best. That’s because the phytochemical activity marked by high Vitamin C levels gathers up free radicals that damage skin cells, causing the acceleration of skin aging. Vitamin C also encourages the production of collagen, a type of protein that helps keep at bay the formation of wrinkles by making your skin elastic.
Reduce the Risk of Iron-Deficiency Anemia - You can get decent amounts of iron in every serving of finger lime. The said mineral is essential for the production of RBCs — short for red blood cells. RBCs are the ones that enable the blood to carry oxygen throughout your body. Consuming finger limes and other iron-containing foods can help lower your risk of iron-deficiency anemia.
Defence against Age-Related Diseases - Vitamin E can also be found in Finger Lime. Just like vitamins A and C, this nutrient has outstanding antioxidant properties. Several researches have shown that it is something that is very good at preventing an assortment of health problems that are related with aging. Some of them include diseases of the joints, brain, nerves and heart.
Healthy Teeth and Gums - as we all know scurvy is a condition caused by a Vitamin C deficiency. It's not likely these days that many people will suffer from scurvy but it is good reminder that Vitamin C can help our our gums from damage and becoming swollen and bleeding. Healthy gums in turn nourish our teeth and keep them strong.
Kakadu Plum is a true Australian superfruit and superfood as it is just jam packed with nutrients.
So a very little Kakadu Plum goes a very long way! No wonder we call it a superfood
Health Benefits
This popular bush fruit is a great source of vitamin C, carbohydrates, dietary fibre and protein. In fact, early Australian explorers used the bush tomato as a source of vitamin C in preventing scurvy.
Compared with regular tomato, 100g of bush tomato contains two thirds of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C for children between the ages of 8 and 15 years (1). It is also higher in the minerals potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, sodium and zinc (2). The bush tomato also contains the vitamins thiamine, niacin and niacin-related compounds.
Recent studies have focused on the functional properties of bush tomato and it has been shown to possess medium to strong antioxidant activity but low free radical scavenging ability. The functional properties of the fruit are due to the phenolics, anthocyanins, lycopene and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Bush tomatoes are very high in lycopene, which is an important antioxidant that scavenges free radicals. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant which has been linked to cancer prevention. Tomatoes including the bush tomato are considered the best sources of lycopene. Cooking tomatoes actually releases lycopenes and it has been found that cooked tomatoes (including bush tomato) can contain up to 5 times more lycopenes than raw tomatoes. Bush Tomatoes also contain selenium, a rare mineral which plays a key role in the metabolism and has antioxidant properties.
Aniseed myrtle is considered a “functional” food as it has displayed varying levels of antioxidant activities and anti-microbial activities . These activities can be attributed to two main components found in the plant – anethole and methyl chavicol (citral). The herb has been used traditionally as a sedative and a stimulant for coughs as anethole has been shown to break down respiratory tract secretions. Anethole rich plants such as the Anisata tree are traditionally used by Indigenous Australians as a treatment for digestive problems such as belching, hiccupping and persistent epigastric (upper abdomen) pain. Research additionally has shown that anethole has anti-inflammatory properties. Citral is known to have strong anti-microbial properties.
RIRDC funded research has shown that extracts of aniseed myrtle inhibited the growth of foodborne pathogens such as the cholera-causing bacterium Vibrio cholerae amongst others . The same research also showed that extracts of anisata displayed mild antioxidant activities.
These functionalities ensure that this herb is perfect as a culinary herb as it requires no 'aids' to such as chemical fumigation or irradiation to be safe to eat (as some non-Indigenous herbs and spices do)