Bush Tucker Recipes at the Aussie table

Water Python or Rainbow Serpent, as pictured above, is found in hollow logs and crevices around waterways, swamps and lagoons in northern Australia. They hunt at night and are not generally aggressive. It is a great food source for the Aboriginal people of the north and is also featured in many paintings and stories. It tastes like chicken.

Learn more about this snake and our wild animals HERE

The amethystine or scrub python is Australia’s largest snake, growing to lengths of 8.5 metres, but more commonly 3.5-7.5 metres. This one is a resident of the Australian Reptile Park on NSW’s Central Coast just north of Sydney.

Their usual habitat is on the coast of far north Queensland where it hunts mice, rats and wallabies at night. It was traditionally cooked on an open fire for about an hour. It’s thick white flesh looks and tastes like chicken.

Goulds Goanna

Growing to an average length of 1.6 metres the Goanna is found all over Australia. Colour varies according to location. They have very sharp claws and can inflict a painful bite.

Traditionally they were cooked whole on the ashes. The oily white meat tastes like chicken.

Green Ant

Found in open woodland in the Northern Territory and far north Queensland. Their nests are often suspended above the ground and can inflict a number of short painful bits if disturbed. Aboriginal people ate the white larvae found inside the leafy nests. It has a lemon taste. The ants and larvae were also pounded and mixed with water to produce a lime flavoured drink to relieve colds, headaches and sore throats.

Honey Ant

Found in central Australia around Alice Springs the ants construct nests in red flat sandy soil under a tree or bush and with the entrance camouflaged amongst dead litter.

Aboriginal women would start digging about half a metre from the entrance working around to locate the side chambers where the storer ants hide. The honey is sucked from the storers extended abdomens.

Lerp Scale

Can be found in a wide section of the dryer parts of the continent. The minute pink coloured grub sucks the sap from eucalyptus leaves. The white scale has a sugary eucalyptus taste which can be dissolved in water and drunk. Not seen when the rain comes.

Native Bee

Also called Sugarbag the native bee is widely spread and is one of the most prized of all bush food. Smaller than a housefly native bees do not sting. The honey is delicious and consumed without any other food.

Witchetty Grub

One of the best known bush foods it is also one of the more elusive. The grub is the larva of a moth and generally only found in central Australia. They can be found in the root system of the Witchetty Bush although not every bush will yield them. They have also been known to be found in the Bloodwood Tree.

Often requested and as yet our bush food shop does not stock them.

Rich in protein some say they taste like almonds whilst others say they are similar to scrambled eggs.