Raffi at 14:50, 12 April 2007

2007-04-12T14:50:59Z

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{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Australian desert raisin
| image = Bush_raisin.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Solanales]]
| familia = [[Solanaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Solanum]]''
| species = '''''S. centrale'''''
| binomial = ''Solanum centrale''
| binomial_authority = [[John McConnell Black|J.M.Black]]
}}

'''Australian desert raisin''' (''Solanum centrale'') is a [[plant]] native to the more arid parts of [[Australia]]. It has been used as a food source by [[Central Australia]]n [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal]] groups for millennia.

Like many plants of the ''Solanum'' genus, Desert raisin is a small bush and has a thorny aspect. It is a fast growing [[shrub]] that fruits prolifically the year after fire or good rains. The [[vitamin C]]-rich [[fruit]]s are 1-3 cm in diameter and yellow in color when fully ripe. They dry on the bush and look like [[raisin]]s. These fruits have a strong, pungent taste of [[tamarillo]] and [[caramel]] that makes them popular for use in sauces and condiments. It can be obtained either whole or ground, with the ground product easily added to bread mixes, salads, sauces, cheese dishes, chutneys, stews or mixed into butter.

[[Mardu]] people would [[skewer]] bush tomatoes and dry them so the the food was readily transportable.

===Some other names===
{| class="wikitable"
|- bgcolor=#efefef
!Language
!Name
|-
|[[Alyawarr]]
|''Akatjurra''
|-
|[[Arrernte]]
|''Merne akatyerre''
|-
|English
|Bush raisin, Bush tomato, Bush sultana
|}

==See also==
*[[Bush tomato]]

{{fruit-stub}}

[[Category:Flora of Australia]]
[[Category:Solanum]]

Solanum centrale - Revision history

Raffi at 14:50, 12 April 2007