This is the traditional way of making tea on the droving run, in Australia. The water is usually taken from a local watercourse and rapid boiled over the campfire in the blackened billy, for at least ten minutes to assist in purifying the water of any bacteria. in the Australian Outback. The billy itself is a metal cooking pot with a lid and a bucket handle. It is kept clean inside, the blacked outer not only adds to the esthetic appearance but actually conducts heat better, it heats faster than a new pot. Traditionally you would sit on your rolled up swag (bedding) and as you don't carry fresh milk in the outback you would have your billy tea black or with tinned sweetened condensed milk added. - Strong black tea.
- Billycan.
- Water (choose from a clean flowing water source.)
- Campfire, nestle the billy into the glowing coals at the edge of the fire.
- Tin or enamel mugs .
- Gum leaf branch.
- Milk, sugar or condensed milk, as available.
How to make billy Tea: - Fill the billycan with water: at least 250 ml per person.
- Cover with lid and put on the fire to boil.
- When the water boils, take off the fire by lifting the handle with a stick and remove lid.
- Sprinkle tea on top of water: a handful for a family billy, several handfuls for a big one.
- Turn the handle furthest from the fire so it will cool.
- Briefly stir with the gum-leaf branch.
- NOT RECOMMENDED due to safety reasons, but this is how it once was done.: Swirl the billy three times over your head, keeping the hot tea in the billy with centrifugal action. The reason to do this was to settle all contaminants in the water along with the tea-leaves to the bottom of the billy. As travelers usually have a clean water source these days, the preferred method, and safe one I suggest is below.
- Wait. After about 5 minutes the tea leaves will suddenly drop to the bottom. Tapping the side of the billy with a stick may help (at least many people do it!).
- Pour carefully into tin mugs leaving tea leaves in the bottom of the billy.
- Flavour with milk, sugar or condensed milk if liked.
Don't forget to use the safe method when you make billy tea and leave the twirling the billy in the past, it is dangerous, I don't suggest anyone try this. Put the bushfire out before you leave. Take only photos and happy memories and leave only footprints.
Native Foods Website CSIRO - RIRDC- Acacias, Bush Tomatoes, Citrus, Davidson Plums, Illawarra Plums, Lemon Aspen, Lemon Myrtle, Mountain Pepper, Muntries, Quandong, Riberries Bush Food Production Davidson's Plum Davidsonia puriens, Black Apple Planchonella australis, Red Bopple Nut Hicksbeachia pinnatifolia, Riberry (Small-leaved Lilly Pilly) Syzygium leuhmannii Quandong - Santalum acuminatum Cherikoff The Rare Spice Company - Glossary List Cherikoff The Rare Spice Company - Home Page bush tomato (Akadura) Solanum centrale, Davidson's Plum, Illawarra Plums, Kakadu Plums, Lemon Aspen, Munthari, Quandong, Riberry, Wild Limes, Lemon Myrtle, Aniseed Myrtle, Mountain Pepperleaf, Native Mint, Native Thyme, Native Pepperberries, Warrigal greens, Bunya Nuts, Macadamia Nuts, Wattleseed Bush Tucker Recipes SGAP (Queensland)- Bushtucker Velvet Wattle Acacia holosericea, Lemon Myrtle, Sandpaper Fig Ficus opposita, Cocky Apple Planchonia careya, Lady Apple Syzygium suborbiculare, Kapok tree Cochlospermum gillivraei, Burdekin Plum Pleiogynium timorense, Bunya Nuts Araucaria bidwillii, Cedar Bay Cherry Eugenia reinwardtiana, LIVING OFF THE LAND Shoalmarra Quandongs Diemen Pepper Mountain Pepper Bush Food Species for Temperate Regions Sea Celery, Apple Berry Billiardera scandens, Illawarra Plum, Mint Bushes, Raspberries Rubus spp., Native Peppers Tasmannia spp., Warrigal Greens Bunya Feast Native Hibiscus Red Ochre - Native Ingredients Fact Sheets on different Bushfood plants Bush Tomato Solanum centrale, Lemon Myrtle Backhousia citriodora, Mountain Pepper Tasmannia lanceolata, Wattle seed (Gundabluey) Acacia victoriae, Quandong Santalum acuminatum, Native Limes, Desert Lime Citrus glauca, Davidsons Plum Davidsonia pruriens, Lemon Aspen Acronychia acidula Australian Native Produce Industries - Recipes Some Recipes Cheesecake Wattle Cake Syzygium australe Wattle (Acacia) Seeds Use and recipes. Australian Native Bush Food (Tucker) Links Toona Essential Oils Lemon Myrtle Backhousia citriodora LemonMyrtle.Com.au Lemon Myrtle Backhousia citriodora, recipes Aniseed Mytle industry links Backhousia anisata Bushfood Products at Bushtuckershop.comClick on the product pictures to get more information about the different bushfoods. Many different ones here. The Dilly Bag: Menus and Workshops in Bush Tucker Benjamin Christie Australian Chef from the TV series Dining Downunder with Native Australian Recipes Dining Down Under - TV series about Australian Cuisine Larapinta Primary School Bushtucker Website (Central Australia) Bush Banana. Mulga, Quandong, Bush Raisin, Wild Fig, Bush Coconut, and native food animals. Australian Bushfood & Native Medicine Forum post questions and answers online. Guruna Nursery Outback Chef items for sale - busg tomatoes, lemon mytle, mountain pepper, Macadamia nuts, Quandongs, Wattle Seed, River Mint, Warrigal Greens, Portulaca
Books » Cooking, Food & Drink » Cooking » General
Bush Tucker Field Guide Les Hiddins
Discover the fascinating secrets of Australia's bush tucker with Les Hiddins, the Bush Tucker Man. Les describes more than 170 foods and medicines and their unique and often unusual uses, from the gulf plum to the green ant.
About the Author
Viola is a communication design company that draws inspiration from nature and encourages design that celebrates and protects the environment. Owner Anna Carlile founded Viola in 1999, and since then has developed a diverse eco-design portfolio with clients including the Earthwatch Institute, Green Peace and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Anna has a Masters degree in environmental sustainability and consults, lectures and educates on sustainable communication design. These walking trails were compiled by Diana Carlile, an avid walker who has been guiding walking groups in and around Melbourne for over 20 years.
Books » Children's » Fiction » General
Bush Tucker (Message S.) By Linda Bruce
The witchetty or witchety grub was also commonly called witjuti grub and many other names given the many hundreds of Indigenous Australian languages. It is the large, white, wood-eating larvae of certain varieties of moths the most common being the cossid moth Endoxyla leucomochla, which feeds on the roots of the Witchetty bush (named after the grubs) in central Australia. I have watched the women dig for this grub which forms a staple part of women’s and children’s diet in the traditional lifestyle. The grub might also be the larvae of the cossid or ghost moths ( Hepialidae), or longhorn beetles ( Cerambycidae). I have dug for this myself. Mot to eat personally but to turn out onto the grass for the watching magpies to eat, in an attempt to save the life of a struggling Eucalyptus Ficifolia or flowering gum tree that was having it’s juvenile roots eaten away by the grubs. Those who eat the Witchetty grub sat they all taste similar regardless of the species. As the outer skin is quite tough and chewy it is considered a good teething item to give a baby and it will take them a long time to chew the grub and obtain the almond tasting food from the centre. The grubs are usually thrown into hot ashes to cook, then wiped clean and eaten as finger food, high protein delights as the outer skin tastes like crunchy chicken skin and the centre of the cooked grub is described as egg like by some and peanut butter and egg by others. The word witchetty comes from Adynyamathanha wityu, "hooked stick" and vartu, "grub." In Indigenous Australians culture digging for Witchetty grubs is women’s business though men are allowed to do it. Women also paint the Witchetty grub as Dreamings in their paintings. In Patrick White's novel, Riders in the Chariot, a young Aboriginal boy thinks a flabby rector looks like he was "made out of old wichetty grubs" Fresh water fishermen use the grubs as bait and call them Bardi grubs, also spelled Bardy grubs, a shortening of the Latin name ( Bardistus cibarius)of the longhorn beetle though along the Murray River the fishermen are mosty finding the hepialid moth larvae of Trictena[4] and Abantiades. These grubs live about 60 cm below ground and feed upon the roots of River Red Gum ( Eucalyptus camaldulensis). They can also be found under Black Wattle trees, and this is one of the reasons wattles rarely live longer than 15 years. The roots of the Acacia kempeana shrub are another good source of the grubs. The women know how to find the Witchetty grub by looking for the small piles of sawdust around the base of a plant which indicate the entrance hole the beetle dug in order to lay the eggs for the bug. The Witchetty grub may also be inside the branches and trunk or the tree and the sawdust is the giveaway sign the women search for to show where to dig. They will use a long thin stems with a backwards facing thorn to hook grubs out of their woody hole ot break away a section of the branch or root with the Witchetty grub in it so they can take the Witchetty Grubs away and eat them at a later time. The Witchetty grub is also a bush medicine and the Warlpiri Aboriginals treat eye sores with a paste made from witchetty grubs.
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