Peter Hardwick (born 1958) is an Australian food horticulturist and environmentalist, recognized as an early pioneer of the Australian bushfood industry. He publicly challenged the established belief that native Australian food plants were not suitable for cropping; conceived the commercial strategy of processing strong flavored native food plants; and, developed the use of wild and seedling genetic diversity to overcome the lack of domesticated varieties previously considered a limitation with Australian native food plants. [1]
In 1977 Hardwick started researching native food plants for their culinary and cropping potential to highlight the economic importance of conserving rainforest. [2] In 1978, he studied at Ryde School Horticulture, and investigated potential crops like Davidsonia, riberry, bunya nut and plum pine (Illawarra plum).
During the 1980s Hardwick worked for NSW Agriculture. In 1988 he founded Wilderness Foods Ltd, a bushfood company which pioneered the selection and production of aromatic Australian spices; planted mixed species cultivation trials; and worked with local Aboriginal communities on developing native food enterprise. In cooperation with the Essential Oils Unit, Wollongbar Agricultural Institute, Hardwick screened native essential oil plants for potential as Australian spices in the developing bushfood market. This included riberry, lemon myrtle, aniseed myrtle, Cinnamon Myrtle, Lemon Ironbark, and Dorrigo Pepper.
Hardwick has authored several papers on native food plants, and works as a wild food researcher and forager. [3]
Ajwain or ajowan —also known as ajowan caraway, వాము ,omam , thymol seeds, bishop's weed, or carom—is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Both the leaves and the seed‑like fruit of the plant are consumed by humans. The name "bishop's weed" also is a common name for other plants. The "seed" is often confused with lovage seed.
Basil ), also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also known as Genovese basil or sweet basil. Basil is native to tropical regions from Central Africa to Southeast Asia. In temperate climates basil is treated as an annual plant, but it can be grown as a short-lived perennial or biennial in warmer horticultural zones with tropical or Mediterranean climates.
Citral is an acyclic monoterpene aldehyde. Being a monoterpene, it is made of two isoprene units. Citral is a collective term which covers two geometric isomers that have their own separate names; the E-isomer is named geranial or citral A. The Z-isomer is named neral or citral B. These stereoisomers occur as a mixture, often not in equal proportions; e.g. in essential oil of Australian ginger, the neral to geranial ratio is 0.61.
Terminalia ferdinandiana, most commonly known as the Kakadu plum and also called the gubinge, billygoat plum, green plum, salty plum, murunga, mador and other names, is a flowering plant in the family Combretaceae, native to Australia, widespread throughout the tropical woodlands from north-western Australia to eastern Arnhem Land. Used as a traditional bush food and bush medicine for centuries, the fruit has especially high levels of vitamin C.
Backhousia citriodora, commonly known as lemon myrtle, lemon scented myrtle or lemon scented ironwood, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to subtropical rainforests of central and south-eastern Queensland, Australia, with a natural distribution from Mackay to Brisbane.
Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and historically eaten by Indigenous Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora, fauna, or fungi used for culinary or medicinal purposes, regardless of the continent or culture. Animal native foods include kangaroo, emu, witchetty grubs and crocodile, and plant foods include fruits such as quandong, kutjera, spices such as lemon myrtle and vegetables such as warrigal greens and various native yams.
Davidsonia is a genus containing three rainforest tree species native to Australia, commonly known as the Davidson plum or Davidson's plum. The fruits superficially resemble the European plum, but are not closely related. All species have an edible sour fruit with burgundy-coloured flesh and are highly regarded as gourmet bushfood. The genus Davidsonia is named after John Ewen Davidson who claimed the land from which the tree was first botanically described.
Citrus australasica, the Australian finger lime or caviar lime, is a thorny understorey shrub or small tree of lowland subtropical rainforest and rainforest in the coastal border region of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia.
Syzygium anisatum, with common names ringwood and aniseed tree, is a rare Australian rainforest tree with an aromatic leaf that has an essential oil profile comparable to true aniseed.
Citrus glauca, commonly known as the desert lime, is a thorny shrub or small tree native to Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia. The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia records the common names native kumquat and desert lemon.
Jean-Paul Bruneteau is a French-Australian chef and author who is credited with playing a pioneering role in the development of an authentic Australian cuisine based on indigenous ingredients.
Vic Cherikoff is regarded as an authority on Australian native foods and its associated industry, having been involved in the selection and commercialization of many of the 35 or so indigenous Australian plant foods now in the market place.
The modern Australian native food industry, also called the bushfood industry, had its initial beginnings in the 1970s and early 1980s, when regional enthusiasts and researchers started to target local native species for use as food. Indigenous Australians had been harvesting many species for use as food and medicines for millennia. In the mid 1970s Brian Powell recognised the commercial potential of quangdong fruit and began its cultivation in orchards. Following this, the CSIRO became involved in quangdong research.
Tim Low, is an Australian biologist and author of books and articles on nature and conservation.
Davidsonia pruriens, also known as ooray, Davidson's plum, or Queensland Davidson's plum, is a medium-sized rainforest tree of northern Queensland, Australia.
Buchanania obovata is a small to medium-sized understorey tree in woodlands native to northern Australia, in particular in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Common names include green plum and wild mango.
The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 21,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, and below the family level has a highly endemic angiosperm flora whose diversity was shaped by the effects of continental drift and climate change since the Cretaceous. Prominent features of the Australian flora are adaptations to aridity and fire which include scleromorphy and serotiny. These adaptations are common in species from the large and well-known families Proteaceae (Banksia), Myrtaceae, and Fabaceae.