List of Australian herbs and spices
Australian herbs and spices were used by Aboriginal peoples to flavour food in ground ovens. The term "spice" is applied generally to the non-leafy range of strongly flavoured dried Australian bushfoods. They mainly consist of aromatic fruits and seed products, although Australian wild peppers also have spicy leaves. There are also a few aromatic leaves but unlike culinary herbs from other cultures which often come from small soft-stemmed forbs, the Australian herb species are generally trees from rainforests, open forests and woodlands.
Australian herbs and spices are generally dried and ground to produce a powdered or flaked spice, either used as a single ingredient or in blends.
They were used to a limited extent by colonists in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some extracts were used as flavouring during the 20th century. Australian native spices have become more widely recognized and used by non-Indigenous people since the early 1980s as part of the bushfood industry, with increasing gourmet use and export.
They can also be used as a fresh product. Leaves can be used whole, like a bay-leaf in cooking, or spicy fruits are added to various dishes for flavour.
The distilled essential oils from leaves and twigs are also used as flavouring products.
Fruit
Acronychia acidula, Lemon AspenAcronychia oblongifolia, White Aspen, Yellow WoodAustromyrtus dulcis, Midgen Berry, Silky MyrtleCitrus australasica, Finger Lime, Caviar LimeCitrus australis, Round Lime, Australian LimeCitrus glauca, Desert LimeEupomatia laurina, Bolwarra, Native Guava, Copper LaurelKunzea pomifera, Muntries, Emu Apples, Native CranberriesSolanum centrale, Akudjura, Australian Desert RaisinSolanum chippendalei, Chippendale's Tomato, Bush TomatoSolanum cleistogamum, Potato Bush, Bush TomatoSyzygium luehmannii, Riberry, Cherry Alder, Small Leaf Lilly Pilly
Herbs
Apium insulare, Flinders Island CeleryApium prostratum, Sea CeleryAtherosperma Moschatum, safrole, Southern SassafrasAtriplex nummularia, Old Man Salt BushBackhousia citriodora, citral chemovar, Lemon MyrtleBackhousia myrtifolia, elemicin chemovar, Cinnamon MyrtleBoronia safrolifera, safroleCrowea exalata, exalaticinCinnamomum oliveri, safrole, Oliver's CinnamonCymbopogon refractus, Barbed wire grassDoryphora sassafras, safroleDoryphora aromatica, safroleEucalyptus dives, piperitone chemovar, Peppermint GumEucalyptus globulus, cineole chemovar, Tasmanian blue gumEucalyptus olida, methyl cinnamate chemovar, Strawberry GumEucalyptus polybractea, Blue-leaved MalleeEucalyptus staigeriana, Lemon IronbarkMelaleuca quinquenervia, Broad-leaf PaperbarkMelaleuca leucadendron, Weeping PaperbarkMentha australis, River MintMentha diemenica, Slender MintMentha satureioidesOcimum tenuiflorum, Holy BasilProstanthera incisa var. incisa, Cut-leaf MintbushProstanthera rotundifolia, Native ThymeSyzygium anisatum, trans-E-Anethole chemovar, Aniseed myrtleZieria smithii, safrole
Spices
Acacia victoriae, Gundabluey, WattleseedAlpinia caerulea, Native GingerTasmannia lanceolata, Mountain PepperTasmannia stipitata, Dorrigo PepperTasmannia insipida, Brush Pepper BushTasmannia xerophila, Alpine Pepperbush