Please read text!
Emu Foot Cullen Tenax Tough Scurf Pea Seeds
Packet of 50+ organically grown seeds!
This delicate native vine is a real asset to us here.
It is a nitrogen fixing plant meaning it improves the soils by taking nutrition from the air and depositing it around it root line for it to use.
Other nearby plants benefit from this as well which is a bonus, and it makes a great choice for under fruit trees to help suppress non-native weeds and grasses.
It handles sandy rocky gravel soils all the way through heavy boggy clay soils, and drought or flood doesn’t seem to worry it.
The vines can get up to 1.5m round as dense clumps, but in my experience it normally grows in little patches 50cm round in the scrub.
It is a very fine and light vine, and it will not damage trees the way the more aggressive imports often do.
It is normally happy to just scramble along the ground in between the grasses and herbs.
Because of this it is a real asset to graziers as the leaf matter is very nutritious and highly palatable, so much so that it is under serious threat in Victoria from sheep and cattle.
This is also the reason for its common name of Wild or Native Lucerne, because just like lucerne, it is a powerhouse of nutrition.
It is also known as Emu Grass, Emu Foot(because of the emu foot shaped leaf), Tough Scurfpea, Tough Psoralea and Cullens.
It was once know as Psoralea tenax var tenax, Psoralea tenax, and Lotodes tenax and it’s also the host plant for the Chequered Swallowtail, Common grass blue and the Tailed pea blue butterflies.
The reasons I love it is because the little purple flowers attract the native bees, the leaves looks nice and glossy, and the seeds are edible and quite productive considering the near zero inputs we give it.
Once you plant it, all you need to do is water it just enough to make sure it doesn’t die which for us is only during the very hottest months and even then only once every couple weeks.(at the same time other species are getting watered once or even twice daily!)
You can eat them as is raw which is how I normally enjoy them, and you just grab the bunch and strip them from the plant with your hands, rub them in you palm for a couple seconds, blow on them to remove the husk and eat the buggers!
They are nutty and surprisingly filling considering their size.
I suspect a really high protein level but haven’t been able to find a study so far?
Feel free to send me a link if you find one.
Even better you can roast them or even just dry fry them in a pot with a lid for a ~1 minute to pop them give them a real nutty crunch.
If you add a little oil or fat they cook quicker, ~30seconds.
Take the pot off the heat and add a couple drops of vinegar or a squeeze of lemon and you get a dressing for the salad at the same time.
Very fancy!
Really really tasty, especially when contrasted with bitter greens.
I was even given a cake recipe a while back and I have to say, I highly recommend having a crack at it!
Here is a copy.
Cullen seed and Sour cream cake.
Ingredients
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups self raising flour
40 grams Cullen tenax seed(in theory you could substitute sesame, poppy, hemp seeds, nuts etc.)
1. In a small pot with a lid dry fry the Cullen tenax seed for ~30seconds until just toasted.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs lightly and gradually add the sugar. Whip till fluffy.
3. Add the sour cream, vanilla, toasted Cullens seed, mix well.
4. Sift in the self raising flour and mix just until smooth. Don’t over-mix or you just make a heavy brick.
5. Bake in a lined tin at ~180c(~356f) for about an hour until lightly browned and set.
Fanbloodytastic!
There you have it, another awesome Aussie native bushtucker!
Grown by me and the Mrs organically, no chems, no nasties, no problems!!!
