My Spices Archive R-Z

This archive is under development.

Index

Rocket
Saffron
Tamarind
Turmeric
Wasabi
Wattleseed

Rocket

Very trendy and defintely not my favourite.

Species:	Eruca sativa.
Pictures:	The pictures show the cultivated plants, wild plants in flower, seeds and the leaves of wild and cultivated plants.

Cultivated rocket plants	Rocket seeds
Rocket plant in flower	Rocket leaves - l:wild, r:cultivated

Origin:	Central or Southern Europe.
Source:	The various rocket species are native to Central and Southern Europe but have also spread to North America.
Used Part:	Fresh leaves. The seeds can serve as a substitute for mustard seeds but are not used commercially.
Family:	Brassicaceae (cabbage family).
Effect:	All rocket species have a distinct, pungent aromatic flavour, with the pungency increasing with leaf age. The aroma is described as “nutty” or “green” by those who like it and “penetrating” or “petrol-like” by others.
Etymology:	The English common name rocket and its equivalents in European languages (e.g. German rauke and Italian rucola) can be traced back to the Latin eruca, meaning “caterpillar”. The English name arugula comes from the same source, but probably originated from an Italian form. The species name sativa is the feminine form of sativus, Latin for “sown” or “cultivated”. Use of the plant as a green salad is indicated by the number of references to salad in modern European names, e.g. Czech divoký salát, Danish sennepsalat, German salatrauke and Swedish rucolasallat.
Uses:	The potent flavour of rocket has recently become popular in many European countries and in the US. The herb enjoyed considerable popularity all over temperate Europe in the Middle Ages, both for its aromatic leaves and its pungent seeds. However, cultivation was later neglected and since the 18th century rocket has been restricted to the Mediterranean, where it grows wild. Nowadays rocket is back in Western and Central Europe and can be found on countless restaurant menus. In recent years there has been a trend to use more herbs in cooking and every year new herbs have become known and available. Rocket, basil, coriander and bear's garlic have become symbols of haute cusine that are ignored by few chefs. The most typical use of rocket is as a flavouring for salads, to which it lends an interesting, spicy note with all kinds of lettuce. Chopped rocket leaves are a good garnish for many Mediterranean foods, but care must be taken that the rocket flavour does not dominate. Rocket leaves prepared with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and freshly grated Parmigiano cheese makes an excellent appetiser for any Italian feast. In its pungency, rocket is reminiscent of the various cresses, but it also has a powerful flavour of its own which some people dislike, especially on first trying. Cress can be used as a milder alternative and the opposite is also true, with rocket substituting for cress although not in fines herbes. If heated (boiled or steamed), rocket quickly loses all pungency but acquires a characteristic subtle flavour that fits well to some dishes including Italian pasta and risotto. In such applications one needs a large quantity of rocket to impart a noticeable flavour and the heating period should be kept as short as possible.

Saffron

Saffron is the world's most expensive spice and when used with a light touch is nothing short of exquisite. When I was young and growing up in Hackney I had a friend whose older sister Saffron visited my house once when I had a birthday party. She went on to stardom as a Hollywood actress and is now a very fine New Statesman columnist. She is the only person called Saffron I ever met.

Species:	Crocus sativus.
Pictures:	The pictures show the flower, the plant harvest, the corms and saffron threads.

Saffron flower (yellow stamina, red stigmata)	Saffron plants being harvested
Saffron corms	Saffron stigmata (threads)

Origin:	Mediterranean.
Source:	Saffron is a form of the species crocus cartwrightianus, now found in Eastern Greece but probably originating in Crete. Saffron is sterile, with flowers that cannot produce any seeds, so propagation is only possible via corms. Distribution over larger distance requires human assistance, so it is a mystery how saffron became known to the Sumerians almost 5,000 years ago. Today, saffron is cultivated widely, from Spain in the Western Mediterranean to Kashmir in India.
Used Part:	The stigma, or female sexual organ, at the centre of the flower (also called the "style"). Approximately 150,000 flowers requiring 2,000 m2 of field area are needed for one kilogram of dried saffron. The yellow stamina, or male sexual organ, has no taste.
Family:	Iridaceæ (iris family).
Effect:	Very intensively fragrant (reminiscent of iodoform, but much more pleasant), slightly bitter in taste. By soaking saffron in warm water, one obtains a bright yellow-orange solution.
Etymology:	The name saffron derives from the Arabic za'fran, a name whose Semitic origin means "become yellow". Many European languages have loaned the Arabic name, including Portuguese açafrão, Italian zafferone and Russian shafran. Similar names are found in non-European languages such as Hindi zafran, Thai yafaran and Japanese safuran. The Sanskrit name of saffron, kashmira "the one from Kashmir", points to the territory as the ancient source of saffron production in the sub-continent. Similar Indic names of saffron such as Hindi kesar, Punjabi keshar and Urdu kisar derive from the Sanskrit kesara "hair", referring to the thin, hair-like saffron threads. The spice was known to the Greeks by the name krokos (as mentioned by Homer in the Iliad). This name has not survived to any contemporary language except Modern Greek, but in its Latin form crocus it is used as the botanical genus name of saffron. The Arabic name kurkum originally meant saffron, but is now used for turmeric. Unfortunately this word has entered into many modern languages and plays some part in the frequent confusion between saffron and turmeric. The desire amongst some to profit by trading relatively cheap turmeric as the highly expensive saffron has benefitted from this linguistic error. Species name sativus is Latin for "sown" or "cultivated".
Uses:	Of Western and Central Asian growing countries, Iran is most productive and in recent years yield has increased to the point where it now produces more saffron than Spain. Smaller amounts are harvested in Turkey and India. Kashmiri saffron has a particularly high reputation but is hardly available outside India and both yield and quality have decreased in recent years due to the political situation. Spain and Iran are the largest producers, accounting together for more than 80% of the world's production of approximately 300 tons per year. In Europe, saffron production is almost entirely limited to the Mediterranean and Spanish (La Mancha) saffron is generally considered the best. Saffron grows well in cooler climates and since the 15th century various attempts have been made to introduce production variously to England, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The town of Saffron Walden in Essex derived its name from local production in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century most of the former saffron cultivation sites had become abandoned and the only saffron "industry" in Europe North of the Mediterranean today is found in the small Swiss village of Mund. There are several other plants that can give a yellow or orange colour to food, but none of these has the hypnotic fragrance of true saffron. Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, with anything below about £1 per gram for Iranian and £3 per gram for Spanish indicating either a smuggled product or a substitute (usually turmeric, safflower or calendula). In production countries the price is much lower, but so is the quality. Saffron's aroma is unique with no real substitutes, although vanilla, kewra water, rose water or tonka beans are possible alternatives for saffron in sweets and cakes. Although saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, its use can be very cost-effective as it is used in minute amounts. Half a teaspoon of good quality saffron, for example, is enough for a kilo of saffron pudding. Not only is cheating (by substitution, adulteration or mislabelling) as old as the genuine saffron trade, but genuine traders sometimes sell products from the correct plant that have little or no aroma. To ensure a reasonable quality, saffron should be bought whole and not in powdered form. Old European recipes sometimes prescribe relatively huge amounts of saffron, but in modern European cuisine saffron plays a minor role although it is used for several Mediterranean fish and seafood dishes. Famous examples are the Italian risotto alla Milanese, the Provençal fish soup bouillabaisse and the Spanish national dish paella. Saffron also appears in some European cake recipes, adding both flavour and colour. Saffron is more important in Central Asia and North India, where it is used extensively for rice dishes. North Indian biryanis are fragrant and aromatic rice dishes, usually with chicken or mutton, that are intensively flavoured by saffron with bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom, nutmeg and mace and often decorated with nut or almond pieces and dried raisins or pomegranate seeds. The combination of saffron with peppermint in Persian-style biryanis works very well. Indian sweets such as kheer and ras malai are sometimes prepared with saffron, as is the sweet saffron rice dish xarda pullao which is prepared by Muslims at the end of Ramadan. Saffron is sometimes used in the Indian yoghurt drink lassi. Saffron-flavoured makhaniya lassi (butter lassi) from Jodhpur leaves a lasting culinary impression, as does saffron-flavoured ice cream, available in major tourist locations in India. Saffron is almost unique among spices in that its aroma and colour components are water-soluble, so the stigmata may be soaked overnight, filtered out and water then added to give a pure and homogeneous colour. In Iran and India, the spice is often powdered and then extracted with a little milk which is subsequently added to biryanis or sweets. Using ground or whole dry spice directly for cooking is not a good idea as saffron releases its fragrance too slowly and prolonged cooking results in loss of aroma. Thus, it is best to prepare an extract with cold liquid and add that extract to hot foods. In very high dosage, saffron exhibits severely toxic qualities, but accidental poisoning is rare due to the high price and small amounts used for cooking. Although saffron can sometimes be found wild (escaped from cultivation) in Europe, it is inadvisable to collect "wild saffron". The common colchicum autumnale "autumn crocus" (also known as "meadow saffron" or "naked ladies") looks similar but is actually one of the most dangerous plants in European flora. The leaves of autumn crocus are sometimes confused with those of bear's garlic and have caused many accidental deaths.

Tamarind

Tamarind is a fascinating spice, much underused in the West despite the fact that we make good use of other sour spices (lemon, mango, bay, ginger, caper, etc.). I've found several uses for it already and expect to use it a good deal in future.

Species:	Tamarindus indica.
Pictures:	These pictures show the tree, the flower and both unripe and ripe fruits of the tamarind.

Tamarind tree	Fresh unripe tamarind pod
Ripe tamarind pod and seeds	Tamarind flower

Origin:	Africa.
Source:	Tamarind originates from Eastern Africa, but today is found growing all over the tropics.
Used Part:	Unripe fruits or the pulp of ripe pods.
Family:	Fabaceae (bean family).
Effect:	Sour and tart.
Etymology:	The Arabic tamr hindi means “date of India” (“date” being a generic name for the fruits of palm trees), but tamarind neither stems from India nor is it related to palm. In spite of this misnomer, translations of the Arabic have made their way into English Indian date, German Indische dattel and Russian Indiyski finik. The term date itself came to English via Old Provençal datil and supposedly originates fromGreek daktylos “finger”, on account of the pod shape.
Uses:	Tamarind is the only important spice of African origin and today is also a valued food ingredient in many Asian and Latin American recipes. The sour and fruity taste of tamarind blends well with the heat of chillies and gives many South Indian dishes their hot and sour character and dark colour. In India, tamarind is mostly combined with meat or legumes (lentils, chick peas or beans). The pulp is sold dry and must be soaked before use, with only the flavoured water then added to the food. Alternatively, tamarind extract may be used with the same effect. A well-known example of a South Indian dish employing tamarind is vindaloo, a fiery pork stew from the former Portuguese colony of Goa. Vindaloo is a spicy, tropical version of Portuguese porco vinho e alho in which pork is marinated for several hours with a paste made from ground onions, garlic, ginger and a host of spices (chilli, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, cumin, toasted black mustard seeds) and then stewed together with the marinade and tamarind water until tender. Often, vinegar is added to obtain a more acidic taste. Poultry variants are popular with Hindus and Muslims. Outside of India, the recipe is often bastardised by adding potatoes due to confusion with Hindi alu “potato”. Another South Indian food employing tamarind is the vegetable rice dish bese bele from Karnataka. On Java, Indonesia's most populous island, tamarind is used as the basis for spicy and sometimes sweet sauces used to marinade meat or tahu (soy bean cheese) before frying. A typical mixture might contain tamarind water, soy sauce, garlic and possibly ginger and galangale, with chillies added to taste. Javanese food is unique in Indonesia for its sweet-sour compositions, but the sweet-sour taste is less dominant than in typical Chinese recipes. For the sour taste, Javanese prefer tamarind to lemon and as sweeteners they prefer kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) to sugar. Although only a small minority of Western cooks use tamarind today, one product containing tamarind that has gained importance in international cuisine is English Worcestershire sauce, made to a recipe brought back from India by Lord Sandys, ex-Governor of Bengal. In peninsular South-East Asia (Vietnam and Thailand), tamarind pods are used both ripe and unripe and in the fresh state they are less fruity and more astringent. Tamarind is often used for acidic soups, which are very refreshing in the tropical climate of Vietnam and Cambodia. Fresh tamarind pods cannot be dried or preserved, except by deep-freezing.

Turmeric

Turmeric, or "haldi" in Hindi, is a spice I was brought up with. Yellow stains on the top of the fridge showed where haldi had been used in a curry or other dish using this dye. After a while I began to appreciate its delicate flavour (especially when fresh), as well as its colouring properties.

Species:	Curcuma longa.
Pictures:	The pictures show the plant, its flower and its fresh and dried rhizome.

Turmeric plant	Turmeric flowers
Fresh turmeric rhizome	Turmeric dried rhizome

Origin:	Probably South-East Asia or Southern Asia.
Source:	Because turmeric was traded from antiquity, its origin cannot accurately be reconstructed but was probably South-East or Southern Asia. The related species c. xanthorrhiza, with taste equivalent to c. longa grows on Java, where it is called temu lawak.
Used Part:	The rhizome. Fresh turmeric leaves are used in some regions of Indonesia as a flavouring, notably in Western Sumatra.
Family:	Zingiberaceae (ginger family).
Effect:	In fresh state the rootstock has an aromatic and spicy fragrance, which by drying gives way to a more medicinal aroma. On storing, the smell quickly changes to one that is earthy and unpleasant. Similarly, the colour of ground turmeric tends to fade if the spice is stored for too long.
Etymology:	In many languages the names of turmeric mean “yellow root”, e.g. German gelbwurz, Arabic uqdah safra and Modern Greek Greek kitrinoriza, where kitrinos means “yellow” and is probably an allusion to lemon or similar citrus fruits. The same meaning applies to the species name of the Javanese variety, c. xanthorrhiza from Ancient Greek xanthe rhiza “yellow root”. Other names relate turmeric to related rhizomes, adding the epithet “yellow”, e.g. Chinese huang jiang and Russian imbir zhyoltyj “yellow ginger” and Czech žlutý zázvor “yellow zedoary”. English turmeric derives from the old French terre-mérite “meritorious earth”, probably because ground turmeric resembles mineral pigments (ochre). The genus name curcuma likens turmeric to saffron, the most relevant yellow plant dye in the ancient world. Curcuma is a Latinisation of the Arabic kurkum (which originally meant “saffron” but is now used for turmeric only). In Biblical Hebrew, saffron is karkom. In most modern European languages, the names of turmeric are derived from Latin curcuma, e.g. Finnish, Croatian and Dutch kurkuma, French and Italian curcuma, Spanish cúrcuma and Bulgarian and Russian kurkuma. Scandinavian names show more variation, e.g. Danish gurkemeje, Norwegian gurkemeie and Swedish gurkmeja. The similarity to saffron is reflected by names such as “Indian saffron” in several European tongues, e.g. German Indischer safran, French safran des Indes and Turkish Hint safranı. In Vietnam, saffron is named nghê tây “Western turmeric”, because turmeric is native and saffron is an exotic oddity. Species name longa is the feminine form of Latin longus “long”, a reference to the shape of the rhizomes.
Uses:	Turmeric is a very important spice in India, which produces nearly the entire world's crop and uses 80% of it. Turmeric usage dates back nearly 4,000 years to the Vedic culture, when turmeric was the principal spice and also of religious significance. In today's India, turmeric is still added to nearly every dish, meat or vegetable, with most in boiled lentils and potatoes. Turmeric also appears in rice dishes (pullao), although turmeric-dyed rice is a great deal more common in Western versions of Indian dishes than it is in India. Turmeric is part of all curry powder and has even made its way into Ethiopian cuisine. In South-East Asia, the fresh spice is much preferred to the dried version. In Thailand the fresh rhizome is grated and added to curry dishes and is also part of the local yellow curry paste. Yellow rice (nasi kuning), dyed by turmeric, is popular on the Eastern islands of Indonesia. In Bali a tasty nasi kuning is prepared from rice, turmeric, coconut milk and aromatic leaves (Indonesian bay leaf, lemon grass and pandanus leaves). It is considered a “cultic dish” and is sacrificed to the Gods, with masses of Balinese streaming to temples and sacrificing cones of yellow rice. On Java, Indonesia's most populous island, nasi kuning is still held to be a sacred dish, even though Hinduism is no longer the predominant religion. Western cuisine does not use turmeric directly, but it forms part of several spice mixtures and is also used to impart a bright yellow colour to mustard paste. Turmeric is sometimes confused with saffron because of similar staining capabilities, although saffron gives a more orange colour. Turmeric does not share the aroma of saffron and is in no way a substitute for it. So-called white turmeric is the closely related plant zedoary, whose fresh rhizome is not so much used as a spice, but eaten as a tasty vegetable. The same thing cannot be done with turmeric as it would stain teeth yellow. Turmeric's staining capability may seem a nuisance to anybody who must clean cooking utensils (cutting boards are particularly hard to clean with brush and soap alone). The dye is, however, unstable in light and fades away after about one hour in direct sunlight.

Wasabi

Wasabi is the unique Japanese root vegetable that combines the pungent, hot taste of horseradish with the clean, sharp edge of a freshly-picked crisp salad leaf.

Species:	Wasabia japonica.
Pictures:	The pictures show the plants and the fresh and dried roots.

Wasabi plants in cultivation	Wasabi flowers
Dried wasabi rhizomes	Basket of wasabi roots

Origin:	Eastern Asia.
Source:	Wasabi is native to Japan. In recent years, cultivation has been tried in New Zealand and the US West coast.
Used Part:	Root plus base of the stalk. In Japan it is preferred fresh, but outside of Japan the spice is only available dried in the form of a pale green powder or a green paste. Many brands of wasabi powder and paste available in the West are fakes, consisting mainly of coloured horseradish (just as much "saffron" in the West is died safflower). Genuine wasabi is an expensive product. In Japan, fresh wasabi leaves are often used as an aromatic decoration.
Family:	Brassicaceæ (cabbage family).
Effect:	Strongly pungent and lachrymatory, like horseradish but somewhat more pure and fresh. The dried root tastes bitter. Only when treated with water for a few minutes does the pungent flavour emerge.
Etymology:	In Chinese, wasabi is known as shan kui “mountain sunflower”. The name wasabi, used in most Western languages, is of Japanese origin as reflected by the species name japonica “Japanese”. In Japanese, the plant's name, written as yama aoi but spoken as wasabi, means yama “mountain” and aoi “hollyhock”. Some European names for wasabi also translate as “mountain hollyhock”, e.g. Dutch bergstokroos and German bergstockrose, whereas in English this refers to a relative of hollyhock, iliamna rivularis. Many Western languages borrow the Japanese name, sometimes adjusting the word to their own sound system. Some languages use compounds naming wasabi as a variant of horseradish, e.g. French raifort du Japon and Russian Yaponskij khren. The Hungarian name is zöldtorma “green horseradish”. The Japanese word namida means “tear” in everyday speech, but if uttered in a sushi bar may be interpreted by the chef as a request for an extra portion of wasabi.
Uses:	The plant is very difficult to grow, and it is generally cultivated hydroponically (in flowing rather than static water). Much wasabi is still collected in the wild. Wasabi is a spice known exclusively in Japan and mostly served with dishes containing various kinds of raw fish, long popular in Japan and increasingly popular in the West. Together with a dash of soy sauce, the pale green paste of wasabi powder and water goes very well with tempura, the Portuguese-influenced Japanese deep-fried battered vegetables. The cuisines of Japan cannot be imagined without ingredients that are completely fresh. This is easy to understand in the case of raw fish, as fish changes its taste rapidly after extraction and can host very dangerous bacteria. Japanese fish must be fresh enough to not develop any “fishy” odour. Chefs put relatively little emphasis on spices and flavouring, as it is more desirable to let the ingredients' flavour stand for itself. The pure and clean pungency of wasabi fits very well to this minimalist concept of culinary taste. In Japan, the simplest form of raw fish is called sashimi and consists simply of absolutely fresh fish in thin slices dipped into soy sauce and wasabi paste. Better known in the West is sushi, which usually (but not necessarily) contains raw fish. Sushi is short grain rice cooked with sugar and vinegar to make it taste slightly sweet-sour. After cooling, the rice is brought to a flat, plain shape and topped with flavourful food nigiri-sushi. As an alternative, the sushi may be placed on dried seaweed (nori) and rolled up to form the cylindrical rice parcels famous in the West, maki zushi. A variant of this is the so-called "inside-out", where the rice is outside of the nori leaf. Some maki types are seasoned with sesame oil for extra flavour and toasted sesame seeds are a common coating for the rice surface of inside-out maki. The most common variants of sushi contain raw fish or raw sea foods, e.g. salmon (sake), tuna (tekka or maguro), shrimp (ebi) and squid (ika), but there are also sushi types without fish, e.g. scrambled egg (tamago), fresh carrot or cucumber (kappa) and pickled radish (oshinko). Sushi is commonly served with soy sauce, wasabi paste and pickled ginger. Because sushi is so popular in Western countries, new variants are being created daily. Some fusion dishes in contemporary Japanese restaurants use ingredients which are not at all traditional for Japan (avocado, cheese and tomatoes with basil). Sushi is as versatile a snack in Japan as the sandwich in Europe and can even be seen as a special Japanese version of the sandwich that substitutes rice for bread.

Wattleseed

The past few years have seen Australasian cuisines beginning to impact on the world gastronomic scene in much the same way that Australasian wines surprised and delighted the world twenty years ago. The modern cuisines of Australia and New Zealand draw heavily upon the traditions of the native peoples of the respective countries - Aboriginals and Maoris. Wattleseed, often called acacia seed outside of Australia - is a new spice to most of us in Europe.

Species:	Acacia victoriae, a. sophorae and a. murrayana.
Pictures:	The pictures show the tree, the pods and the seeds.

Acacia tree	Wattle pods and seeds	Wattleseeds

Origin:	Australia.
Source:	Wattle, or acacia, is a wild plant native to arid and temperate areas of Australia and recently put to cultivation. The plant has been used for millenia by different indigenous Aboriginal peoples, in whose languages it is known by such names as ariepe, ganabargu, ngatunpa, pulkuru and waliputa. Tropical Australian wattle species have also been grown for many years in Niger in West Africa. Originally planted there for firewood and sand stabilisation, the plants were subsequently found to produce prolific crops of seed even during drought.
Used Part:	The seeds. These are harvested from the acacia genus of shrubs and trees.
Family:	Fabaceae (bean family).
Effect:	Aromatic, bitter-sweet, roast chocolate nutty taste.
Etymology:	The genus name acacia is derived from the Ancient Greek akakia "thorny Egyptian tree", probably related to the Greek ake "point" or "thorn". The common name wattle is Anglo-Saxon in origin, meaning rods or poles that can be interwoven for use in building. The woven wattle is often rendered with daub - a mixture of clay, sand and animal manure - leading to the classic name for this type of construction, "wattle and daub". The species name victoriae derives from the Australian territory of Victoria where cultivation is centred, this in turn being a reference to Queen Victoria. Victoriae normally implies large leaves or flowers. The species name sophorae refers to the sophora genus of legumes and the species name murrayana refers to the Murray river in SE Australia and its local Aboriginal peoples.
Uses:	Seeds from as many as 100 species of acacia have been put to culinary use by Australian Aboriginals for at least 6,000 years, the same length of time that food has been cultivated alongside the Nile in Egypt, the Euphrates in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and the Indus in India. Traditionally, Australian Aboriginal women harvest the fully ripe, dry seeds from the wattle, collecting them by beating pod-laden trees with sticks to dislodge the seeds. These are dried by collecting in bark dishes and drying with hot coals. Once toasted and dried, the coals are removed and the seeds cleaned and milled to a coarse meal which is then baked into cakes. Today an estimated 47 species of acacia tree growing in Southern Australia produce seeds that are used for human consumption and several other species are used for cattle feed production. The predominant culinary species is acacia victoriae. Of the culinary uses of wattleseed, the most important is its use as a coffee substitute. When roasted (as per coffee beans) beyond the level required for cake meal and then ground, the seeds generate a unique chocolate, nutty, roasted flavour. When used in a coffee machine in place of normal coffee, the ground wattleseed makes an excellent drink, delicious with milk or cream which brings out the sweetness in the spice. Modern extraction techniques are used to produce wattleseed extract, which can be used in a multitude of ways. The extract has an emulsifying action and is an effective stabiliser for whipped cream, nut butters and some oil and water mixtures such as emulsion sauces. Applications for wattleseed extract include flavouring ice cream, pancakes, bread, pasta, chocolate, biscuits and beer. The extract can also be used in red wine sauces, marinades and dessert sauces. As a spice, wattleseed is used in a number of barbecue dishes, e.g. Cajun barbecued flathead fish. The native Australian fish is filleted and seasoned with a mix of wattle, akudjura (bush tomato), mountain pepper, salt and pepper. The fish is wrapped in paperbark, tied with natural fibre string and cooked on a barbecue or hotplate until the paperbark smokes and the fish is tender. The dish is then served in the bark trimming, with the parcel opened and the charred paperbark folded in beneath the fish.