Oh My Garden! Bush Tucker Backyard

LEMON MYRTLE | BACKHOUSIA CITRIODORA

Also called ‘sweet verbena’ or ‘lemon ironwood’ because of its very hard timber, lemon myrtle is a popular plant to grow at home.

It has been used by Aboriginal people for thousands of years, both for medicine and food.

Use the lovely citrus-flavoured flowers in anything from curries and dips to biscuits and cakes.

GROW IT

Lemon myrtle grows to the size of a medium shrub to a medium tree – they can grow quite large, so consider the size of your yard before planting. Its masses of white flowers reach the ground in summer through to autumn, attracting lots of different types of insects. It does well in coastal scrub and rainforest areas, and does particularly well from Mackay south to Brisbane, Queensland.

TRY IT – LEMON MYRTLE BICKIES

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups plain flour

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Handful of lemon myrtle leaves, chopped.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced or 200C conventional. Mix all your ingredients together until combined. Shape the dough into rounds and place on a baking tray, then flatten them slightly. Bake for 30 minutes or until they look light brown.

Eat your bickies with a Lemon Myrtle cup of tea. Just add lemon myrtle leaves to a mug and pour over freshly boiled water and allow to sit for a few minutes.

By Brenden Moore, Community Greening Officer at Royal Botanic Garden Sydney