Awards: NSW organic bush food company wins RAS Green Award
While bush foods grow all over Australia in different climate zones, the Barlins’ philosophy is to only grow plants that are native to their own area of the NSW north coast. They started by planting lemon myrtle and aniseed myrtle trees, then Dorrigo peppers, cinnamon myrtles, lemon scented tea trees, Davidson plums, rosellas, riberries and brush cherries. From these are produced Barbushco spices, jams, sauces, essential oils, bush flavoured pastas, teas and Bush Dukkah (a blend of nuts, seeds and bush spices).
Certified organic ranges come in spices, essential oils and teas, while helping product sales are the unique tastes and flavours of Australian native bush foods, with many chefs now using the foods.
Ms Barlin says the most popular bush foods sold or growing in popularity are lemon myrtle, a very popular spice; dukkah, which is served as an appetiser/entree and also goes well on schnitzels; Dorrigo pepper, a leaf pepper than can have a hot, black pepper flavour and is popular for meats and baking; and aniseed myrtle, which is used by Asian chefs and has a tarragon-like flavour that also makes it popular in French cooking.
Retail sales go to specialty stores, delis and tourist stores. “Sales are growing by volume and its well up over the last 12 months,” Ms Barlin says. “We are doing more wholesale, supply a lot more manufacturers in bulk and export to several companies in the US, including tea companies, and in Japan for essential oils.”