Australian Native Fruits

[bangkok]

This topic reminds me of my favorit tv-show for 10 years ago: The bushtucker man from Oz.

I found them on youtube, have fun with it!

Bush Tucker Man - Arnhem Land part 1 of 3

[Recher]

First this extract is Macadamia integrifolia specific

Only very recently have Australians started to make selections and improve the quality of native fruits (the Hawaiians beat us to it a long time ago and people dont want this to happen again!

Second and most impotant Australian native fruits are by and large absolute crapola.

There is NO first class dessert fruit in Oz. The best rating any reasonable person could possibly give for an Oz fruit as one to eat out of hand is upper second class and that's being generous. Thinking Syzygium leumanii and literally couple others.

The reason for this depauperate stae of affirs is Australia evolved without primates so there was no co-evolutionary reason for the plants here to develop fruits that primates like.

What the landscape did produce was a multitude of first class fruits for BIRDS!

i can name more than 100 non commercial non Australian fruits that are better than anything Oz has.

The only exception I hold out hope for is the desert (not dessert) fruit Santalanum acuminatum.

Extoling the virtues and potential of Oz frutis as some kind of undiscovered gold vein waiting to be mined is a nonsense.

[Recher]

I prove my case by the fact others have sighted Randia fitzlanni as a potential.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

so I shouldn't plant a grove of these Australian annonas?

we had big plans to have big plants, and to market them as a pickled fruit, in jars (much like pigs feet at gas stations).

First this extract is Macadamia integrifolia specific

Only very recently have Australians started to make selections and improve the quality of native fruits (the Hawaiians beat us to it a long time ago and people dont want this to happen again!

Second and most impotant Australian native fruits are by and large absolute crapola.

There is NO first class dessert fruit in Oz. The best rating any reasonable person could possibly give for an Oz fruit as one to eat out of hand is upper second class and that's being generous. Thinking Syzygium leumanii and literally couple others.

The reason for this depauperate stae of affirs is Australia evolved without primates so there was no co-evolutionary reason for the plants here to develop fruits that primates like.

What the landscape did produce was a multitude of first class fruits for BIRDS!

i can name more than 100 non commercial non Australian fruits that are better than anything Oz has.

The only exception I hold out hope for is the desert (not dessert) fruit Santalanum acuminatum.

Extoling the virtues and potential of Oz frutis as some kind of undiscovered gold vein waiting to be mined is a nonsense.

[Mike T]

Recher is right that there is less potential than most people think.Randia fitzalani and S.leumannii are crap alright and there are no good Annononaceae.Some big fruiting tropical Syzigiums like suborbiculare and native mallacense are ok.There are many sour species but not sweet dessert fruits.Giant macadamia (grandis) is not edible but maybe som tubers and nuts have potential. I have eaten shiploads of bush tucker and there are only a few species that are worth further investigation.Atherton raspberry I suppose is alright as well as Manilkara kauki.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

MikeT and Recher,
bashing the native fruits  that they have around them in Oz!

now the plans for my midyim farm have gone caput. 

[Mike T]

Adam maybe I was a little swift to judge as some burdekin plums and cedar bay cherries deserve a modest amount of respect.This place does a little better with edible fish and crustaceans.Marron,Qld Red Claw and Macrobrachium rosenbergi are the best freshwater crustaceans and there are many second rate ones like Cherax destructor as well.There are some nice freshwater fish and kangaroos aren't bad to eat.

[BMc]

emu makes the greatest burger on this planet.

I'm not sure why Recher poo-poos native fruits then holds Riberry up as the best. For me, Riberry is right at the bottom of the list of edible Syzygium species in this country, only beating the inedible cardboard types like argyropedicum. It can be turned into an okay cordial if sweetened enough, which tastes like rose water with clove, but other than that its just a showy street tree. There are scores better native syzygium than that, and plenty of others that would beat the best syzygiums. Few if any would make anyone's top 100 fruits but Ive tasted a few good ones and know that there is more promise out there than Recher has led on.

Mike, have you ever come across the native star apples?

[Mike T]

BMc I have collected C.roxburghii but have not tried it.The fruits were a bit old and rotten.I passed the seeds onto someone who claimed they were goos to eat.Maybe they are ok.

[Recher]

I call leumannii 'mini jambu'. Flavoursome like a perfumed wax jambu. S. aqueum is also native

I know someone making excellent money from Davidsonia...but all this is niche marketing. Easy to glut market. Davidsonia has potential ... Let's put it this way it makes a top shelf ice cream and jam but Jeez if passionfruit hasn't conquered the world how can Davidsonia?

[Recher]

emu makes the greatest burger on this planet.

I'm not sure why Recher poo-poos native fruits then holds Riberry up as the best.

? Why the confusion. Riberry is the best of a bad lot..somebody has to be. Upper second class means its tasty enuf but no one is going to spend their money on themwhen they canbuy ltichis and grapes and oranges

For me, Riberry is right at the bottom of the list of edible Syzygium species in this country,....There are scores better native syzygium than that,

PLEASE LIST TEN BETTER

and plenty of others that would beat the best syzygiums.

NAME THREE

Mike, have you ever come across the native star apples?

i'M NOT MIKE but all the native Sapotacea are a HUGE disappointment. Man Planchonella australis (syn Pouteria australia) looks like it should be the finest tasting sapodilla but in fact was one of the finalists in the Most Mawkish Fruit Awards

I made my point using evolution and primates. You state I am undervaluing. I say you are overvaluing. So what are all these greatly better preferred species you refer to?

[FlyingFoxFruits]

ok, so if the fruits aren't first class or even second...they are palatable, and unique.   Also some are amenable to container culture, and marginal climates. 

So I wonder what medicinal and nutritional value these fruits have?  maybe they don't taste great, but are worth growing for other reasons?

[Mike T]

You can't be talking about Bennett at Mossman gorge Cultivator. There are lots that are good for sauces,flavorings,drinks etc.

There are numerous fig species that are edible but none come close to being as good as the cultivated fig.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

basically,

its not just about whether or not a fruit tastes good.  My last question was a rhetorical one, that I ask all the time.

[Soren]

basically,

its not just about whether or not a fruit tastes good.  My last question was a rhetorical one, that I ask all the time.

Very different from the native species here where many have a great potential.

[druss]

Came across this old topic and found it interesting to note the popularity of fingerlime as a standout fruit since this conversation started a couple of years ago.  I have both native elderberry species and both walk all over the nigra species and subspecies.  Athertonia as well as horsefieldia both show potential as a popular nut as does pindan walnut for people in more arid climates. I think the native rubus moorei could be bred to a european standard but with much more heat tolerance whilst rubus gunnianus could be the southern cloudberry with a little work. Tasmannia lanceolata is a popular spice used in Cornwall for years, in fact its probably Australia's first exported bush food. My native longan is quicker growing and more cold hardy than normal longan i havent eaten this fruit yet but believe selection or hybridisation could make for good fruits.  Davidsonia are sour but there are people working on selecting these as well. Whilst I agree the lack of highly palatable fruits in pre history may be due to a lack of primates I think that could be made up for.     After all primate breeding went something like this : monkey eats fruit, fruit tastes bad monkey spits it out. monkey eats next fruit fruit tastes good monkey scoffs it and deposits seed in poop.  so on and so forth until a dozen centuries or so later you have nice fruit. Controlled breeding goes something like : choose species with possible potential i.e. black apple, sample hundreds or thousands of wild specimens noting best for fruiting size flavour. Take seeds as well as budwood, plant original budded specimens in breeding ground. grow on seedlings, graft to mature specimens to  encourage early fruiting, select best progeny and breed again. one lifetime later bring out phenomonal varieties. or you could be damn lucky and find that rare genetic fluke first up.