Just three years ago, Chris Harris was using an old metal bed frame to shake out the tiny seeds that hide in native kangaroo grass.
The ancient grains can be roasted, brewed or ground into high-protein flour for baking.
“I spent a lot of time on my country — Ngiyampaa country — with my pop, my dad, my mum and aunties and uncles,” Mr Harris said.
“I learned a lot about our food systems, our culture, and always had a passion and a strong interest for Aboriginal food.”
First Nations farmers are reviving hundreds of native grasses, including kangaroo grass. (Landline: Fiona Broom)
Mr Harris has made flour out of wattle seed, as well as Mitchell, button and kangaroo grass.
He has sent native flours and seeds to kitchens across the country for the past two-and-a-half years but said he was looking at ways to expand his operations.
From builder to bush foods
Mr Harris is the farm manager at Black Duck Foods, an Aboriginal social enterprise at Mallacoota on Victoria’s far eastern border with New South Wales.
The farm, named Yumburra — the Yuin word for the black duck native to the Mallacoota region — was set up by award-winning author Bruce Pascoe, whose book Dark Emu shone a spotlight on the lost history of Aboriginal food systems.
Mr Harris was a plasterer with an Aboriginal construction company when first visited the property about four years ago.
But he said after discussing bush foods with Mr Pascoe, he realised his future would be as a farmer and native foods educator.
“I’d been talking a lot to him about the lilies, the murnong, and the grains and he’d seen a real interest that I had in the native food space,” Mr Harris said.
Mr Harris has made flours from native grains and seeds. (Landline: Fiona Broom)
In the past few years, the small team has grown its knowledge of the ancient grains at their former beef farm on the banks of the Wallagaraugh River.
They have encouraged the return of the native grasses, wattles and tubers that produce the nutritious ingredients that foodies across the country are learning to love.
Native grass and acacia seed flours are finding homes in kitchens across Australia. (Landline: Fiona Broom)
“Known as kangaroo grass, a lot of people call it ‘tricky triandra’ because there’s so much to know about it,” Mr Harris said.
“It makes a really good flour.”
Bread, beer and pastries
A bakery located a couple hours away has begun using native flours to make bread and a puff pastry snack stuffed with native Warrigal greens.
They sold out on their first day at the Bega farmers’ market, as people turned up just to taste the native ingredients.
Puff pastry made with native dancing grass flour and Warrigal greens. (Supplied: Wheatley Lane Bread)
While the grains are now harvested with machines, when Mr Harris started it was “hands-on, manual work”.
“It’s a lot easier and things are a lot quicker,” he said.
Loaves of bread made with wattle seed flour have been a hit at farmers’ markets. (Supplied: Wheatley Lane Bread)
Which is just as well, because now he says their native grass and wattle seed flours are in such high demand, the farm is flat out keeping up with demand.
They sell about 10 kilograms of flour each week across about 40 orders from new and returning customers.
Mr Harris said Black Duck Foods planned to double its machinery to increase production and decrease prices.
With high amounts of labour time required, the flours ranged in price from $180 to up to $450/kg depending on the variety.
Mr Harris said despite the price, households across the country were adding the flours to their pantries.
Black Duck Foods is rehabilitating its farm near the Croajingolong National Park. (Landline: Fiona Broom)
‘Smells like the farm’
Gab and Chris Moore run Sailors Grave Brewing located on the banks of the Snowy River about 150km west of the farm.
The Moores teamed up with Mr Pascoe to produce a beer using kangaroo grass, which they say has become their signature brew and a customer favourite.
Chris and Gab Moore teamed up with Bruce Pascoe to create a kangaroo grass lager. (Landline: Fiona Broom)
Mr Moore said Mr Pascoe brought kangaroo grass and weeping grass from the farm to the brewery for the first brew.
“We went through the brew process. It was a bit of an experiment but the main thing was when we were taking all the spent grain out, Bruce just stopped and said, ‘It smells like the farm,'” Mr Moore said.
Dark Emu lager is made with native kangaroo grass. (Landline: Fiona Broom)
“And that for us was like, ‘This is going to work’, because that’s what we want from the beer.”
The brewers don’t use the kangaroo grass for its sugars to create alcohol, but for people to experience the unique aromas of this ancient grain.
“We use it for flavour — sometimes roasted, sometimes not,” Mr Moore said.
“We use the awns, seed, husks, stem and hay and it all adds that kind of farm-like, hay-like, character.”
The dark lager borrows its name from the title of Mr Pascoe’s book, Dark Emu, which refers to the shape in the night sky of the creator spirit.
Gab and Chris Moore say kangaroo grass beer has become part of their core range. (Landline: Fiona Broom)
A percentage of the beer’s sales support the studies of local Aboriginal students, a nod to Mr Pascoe’s years as a teacher.
“Uncle Bruce taught my brothers and sisters in Mallacoota,” Ms Moore said.
“We developed a connection with Uncle Bruce and we really wanted to tell a story through beer.
“It’s a real way of spreading the story of Dark Emu, and hopefully through that create a bit of reconciliation along the way.”
Chris Moore and Bruce Pascoe in the brewery. (Supplied: Sailors Grave Brewing)
Big future for ancient foods
Mr Harris said giving the land’s native foods new life and a vibrant future was a shared mission.
Specialist milling equipment is helping Black Duck Foods boost its production. (Landline: Fiona Broom)
“Our people lived here for thousands of years with the food we have, and our foods are superfoods,” Mr Harris said.
He said all of the product made was sent to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to test its nutritional value.
“Some of our grains have got 27.1 per cent protein as opposed to about 12 with your normal bleached or unbleached flour,” he said.
“The more people that are familiar with this food, it’s not a foreign thing that they’ll be scared of. They’ll look at it and appreciate the food.”
The Moores say a percentage of the kangaroo grass beer’s sales helps support local Aboriginal students. (Landline: Fiona Broom)
