Bush Banana

Marsdenia australis


COMMON NAME

Bush Pear, Bush Banana

TRADITIONAL USE

They were sometimes cooked on hot ashes and the vine’s flowers were sucked for nectar and eaten raw.

PART USED

Edible fruit and flowers.

SEASONALITY

Fruits from November to April.

The fruit contains high levels of thiamine.

FLAVOUR PROFILE

The fruit looks like an avocado but tastes like fresh green peas and zucchini when small.

USES

The fruit can be eaten as a green vegetable: boiled or microwaved with butter, lemon juice and mountain pepper, or sliced raw into salads, stir fried or used whole in casseroles.

The flowers can be eaten straight from the vine, in a fruit salad, or used as a garnish.

The fresh young leaves are great in salads.