category: food/groceries: Länderküche: Australien: desserts/sweets

Australian Aboriginal sweet foods, de.: Australische Süßigkeiten

Australian Aboriginal sweet foods are foods of the native Australians that were not staples or necessary for survival but treats that add pleasure to their diet. A wide variety of ripe fruits were sweet treats. Other sweets foods were:

• honey ants (Camponotus inflatus)
• lerp scale (Psylla eucalypti, Psylla spp., Glycaspis spp.)
• native honey or sugarbag (Trigona spp.)
• nectar
• gum and resin

The picture shows an Australian stingless honeybee, lat.: Meliponini.

Since native Australian fruits are a lot less sweet and juicy than modern cultured fruits, honey, lerp scale and nectar were extremely popular, especially with children. The sugary treats were also high in calories and gave quick energy. Honey ants are hard to find and have to be dug out of deep ant nests first. Lerp scale is crystallized honeydew that is found on leafs. It is solved in water to make sugary drinks. Nectar is either sucked directly from the flowers or made into a sweet dring with water. Children often collect sweet natural gum that is known as bush lollies.