We grow many native Australian plants on our property at Liverpool NSW, many of them food plants. But when our warrigal greens started self sowing and taking over parts of the garden, something had to be done!

 

With the growing interest in sustainable urban living and native foods, there had to be a better way of putting our excess warrigal greens to good use. Stalls at organic food markets were prohibitively expensive and uneconomical for a small backyard grower.  We then heard about a woman who had several orange trees in her backyard that were full of fruit.  She contacted a local farmer who on-sold the oranges to Sydney’s Flemington markets. 

 

We tried a similar tactic but the relationship was short lived. We sold a few dozen bunches but the demand just wasn’t there.  We then tried the piggy back method and asked a stall holder at the Trackside Farmers Market at Warwick Farm racecourse if he would like to try selling our warrigal greens at his stall. The result was a win/win. 

 

Then one exciting day, we received the call we’d been waiting for. A providore at Sydney markets wanted ‘a couple of boxes’ of warrigal greens for a Sydney restaurant. We have since supplied some of Sydney's finest restaurants and cafes such as Seans Panaroma, CBD Bistrode, est, Manly Pavilion, Paddington Arms, Restaurant Atelier, Bar H,  Watts on Crown, Quadrant, Boroque and Mr.Wongs either directly or through our faithful providores  Murdoch Produce (02) 9517 9433  and Verdi Vedura  0401414443.  

 

We’ve found the easiest way to cook with warrigal greens is to simply toss some leaves into the juices of any pan fried or BBQ cut of  pork,  lamb or beef. You can serve it as a vegetable side dish with butter, garlic and nutmeg or include it in a quiche, stir fry, pasta, pesto or curry.