Warrigal greens

"no matter how much love you don't give them, they will grow right back.” Simon Bryant

Our local gourmet restaurant, Mercer's, today sent me an invite to their latest 'special' meal at which they promote a particular vineyard. We won't be going, but I noticed that on the menu was a dish - I think it was kangaroo - with warragul greens.

I had never heard of warragul greens so looked it up and found that it's actually warrigal greens. I thought Warragul was a place - indeed it is, so I assumed it was named for that. Maybe Mercer's did too. But no, warrigal means wild I think - in one of the hundreds of Aboriginal languages. Well - I've just seen that it means dingo - which I guess is sort of the same as wild. And indeed it does grow wild - on the seashore, in great abundance. It spreads rather than just being a small bush like spinach which it resembles, both in appearance and in taste. And because of its spreading habit it helps to lock the sand into place and eventually turn the sand into soil. It's a valuable ecological plant. Lots of celebrity chefs seem to prefer the taste, though I did get a hint here and there that it was a bit bitter. Lots of them seemed to prefer it to spinach though, particularly in stir-fries because "it handles heat better " - whatever that might mean.

“They start with a herbivorous grassy taste and develop a few metallic bitter end notes as you chew which gives an interesting finish to a dish,” Simon Bryant

The spinach thing shows up in how it is used - basically just like spinach which features in its other names - New Zealand spinach, Cook's cabbage and Botany Bay spinach. It's botanical name is Tetragonia tetragonioides. Captain Cook - and the later settlers of Sydney relied on it to prevent scurvy and it featured on the last meal that Cook ate as he left on the Endeavour - skate and warrigal greens. For it is high in vitamin C, is a good antioxidant and is rich in other vitamins and calcium and phosphorus too. Well actually I've just read an article that said there wasn't any vitamin C, but I'm sure most of the articles said it did, and anyway it was definitely used against scurvy. And incidentally the general opinion seems to be that the Aboriginals did not eat it. Which is interesting.

So why isn't it more popular? Celebrity chefs love it - not just Mercer's. Kylie Kwong uses it a lot - the dish at left is Stir-fried Australian native greens. She claimed in the article in Gourmet Traveller, where I found this, that it's her favourite dish. It looks lovely. But good luck with finding the ingredients. It also features, saltbush leaves, tamari, karkalia leaves, and bower spinach. I have heard of saltbush but not any of the others. There are specialist growers of these things, but as one of them said, he can sell them to restaurants no trouble but the greengrocers will not stock it. Obviously we need one of the supermarkets and their chefs to promote it. Come on Coles and Curtis Stone - I'm guessing Jamie Oliver of Woolworths might not know about it. You might find it in a farmer's market. I must look.

Or you can grow your own. And I have to say I'm tempted. It sounds like a weed, which is all I can really grow.

"They’re are a low growing perennial that likes to sprawl across the ground but will climb a short trellis if given a chance. They make a fantastic ground cover acting as a living mulch, keeping the surface of the soil cool through the heat of Summer and providing a great habitat for bug-eating lizards to hide." Robs Aquaponics and Backyard Farm

They are very hardy, and will tolerate low levels of rain, and poor soils, including salt. They don't even get attacked by pests, not even snails and slugs. I wonder if that includes rabbits and kangaroos. And they don't need much feeding and will tolerate drought. You can grow them from seed or from cuttings and will self-seed and spread. The seeds - shown at right are rather weird looking and have a hard exterior, so you should soak them overnight in water before planting. Which is a little bit contrary because they all say that they self-seed and grow - like a weed. Indeed the inference was that if you weren't careful it would take over. In the wild they are not pre-soaked - well by the rain I suppose.

I am constantly amazed at why some ingredients suddenly become popular and others, equally worthy do not. I gather that Joseph Banks took it back to England with him where it was grown and eaten for some time - the first Australian plant to do this. He gave seeds to Kew.

So what can you do with it? Well basically anything you can do with spinach, though blanch it first because it contains toxic oxalic acid, which would eventually give you kidney stones - not nice. So don't use the blanching water either. This was a tempting sounding recipe I found on one site. I think it is filched from Simon Bryant who has a slightly different version that you can find in The Guardian. Mind you you have to find the desert limes too. Though I guess ordinary limes would do.

Warrigal Greens & Desert Lime Pesto

250 g Warrigal Greens 1 cup Parsley leaves and stalk 200 g Macadamia nuts 2 tablespoons Desert Limes 1 tablespoon of honey 3/4 cup Parmesan, grated 250 ml Macadamia Oil Salt and Pepper to taste 4 cloves garlic