Mulga apple

The mulga apple, is an Australian bush tucker food, often eaten by Aborigines of Central Australia.

The mulga apple is in fact a combination of plant and animal; the insect gall grows inside the wood of the mulga tree (Acacia aneura). Without the wasp the gall would not be induced.[1]

Mulga apple is known as Merne ataltyakwerle in the Arrernte language of Central Australia. Mulga trees grow in flat country and at the foot of hills.

It grows on the end of the mulga branches. Aborigines eat them raw or cook them in hot earth. The wasp larvae is also eaten. The taste is said to be sweet and like apples.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Blanche, Rosalind (2012). Life in a Gall: The Biology and Ecology of Insects that Live in Plant Galls. Csiro Publishing. p. 52. ISBN 0643106456. Retrieved 31 November 2012. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ↑ Giles, Ernest (2011). Australia Twice Traversed: Volume 1:The Romance of Exploration. Cambridge University Press. p. 71. ISBN 1108039006. Retrieved 31 November 2012. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)