Bunya nut

The bunya pine is a very tall, dome-crowned conifer with stiff, glossy, pointed leaves. Its cones are enormous, as large as a football or bigger and weighing up to ten kilograms, and they are covered in sharp scales. They fall from high branches with great force.

Each cone contains dozens of large, elongated, pale seeds, about four to six centimetres long, each in a leathery shell. The seed is starchy and creamy, with a mild flavour reminiscent of chestnut and pine nut, becoming nuttier when roasted.

Bunya nuts are sold fresh in season, boiled or frozen, and as flour in small amounts by specialist producers.

Araucaria bidwillii is native to south-eastern Queensland, Australia, where the main natural stands are in the Bunya Mountains and other ranges north of Brisbane, with small stands in the wet tropics further north. It is a relic of a once more widespread group of conifers in the ancient southern landmass of Gondwana.

The name bunya comes from the Aboriginal name for the tree, and the species was named for John Bidwill, a botanist who sent seeds to England in the 1840s.

The tree is protected in the wild, and many are planted as ornamental trees in parks and large gardens in Australia and other warm climates.

For Aboriginal peoples of south-east Queensland, the bunya tree was owned and tended, and its harvest was the occasion of large, ceremonial gatherings. Every three years or so, when the trees gave a heavy crop, groups from hundreds of kilometres away travelled to the Bunya Mountains to feast, trade, settle disputes, arrange marriages and share songs and dances.

British colonists noticed the gatherings in the 1840s, and the government set aside bunya forests as reserves in 1842 and banned timber cutters from the area, although over time the Aboriginal gatherings were suppressed as land was taken for settlement and timber.

The Bunya Mountains National Park was established in 1908, one of the earliest national parks in Queensland. Traditional owners such as the Wakka Wakka and Jarowair peoples continue to care for the country and have been reviving the cultural harvest and teaching practices.

Today bunya nuts are an emerging bush food, promoted by Indigenous enterprises and Australian chefs.

Bunya nuts are boiled in their shells for fifteen to forty minutes, then split and eaten warm, roasted in embers or on a barbecue, or sliced into salads, pestos and soups. They can be ground into flour for breads, cakes and gnocchi, or preserved by burying in mud or streams, as traditionally done.

The young cone's inner part is also eaten in some uses, and the immature seeds are soft and sweet.

Traditionally, the shells and resin have had craft and fire-starting uses, and the large cones are used for decoration.

Bunya nuts are mostly starch, with moderate protein and little fat, a different profile from most tree nuts and closer to a chestnut. They provide energy, fibre and minerals such as potassium and magnesium.

Little formal nutritional research has been done on them, so values vary between reports. Their cultural value and role as a traditional food are better documented than their health effects.