Saltbush
Atriplex nummularia (Chenopodiaceae Family)
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 meters high and sometimes
spreading to 5 meters wide. It is a long living plant, growing
strongly after periods of summer rain, when it grows long tassels
of flowering seed heads. In old times indigenous Australians mostly
collected the minute Saltbush seeds to grind and roast for
damper.
A special selection of Old Man Saltbush has been developed by
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.
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