There are toxic substances such as cycasin and macrozamin in the sarcotesta and endosperm. Aboriginal people removed most of such toxins from by leaching them out in water of shallow lakes ('soak pools'). Cycasin is soluble in water so it can be dissolved leached out from the fruit and into the water.
The Aboriginal people of the rainforest invented the bicornual basket to act as a sieve for the ground seeds. They knew that placing the basket in running water, loaded with the ground seeds, the toxins would leach out.
Roasting on hot coals: The basic technique for cooking flesh, including most meats, fish and small turtles. A further slow roasting, involving covering with coals and ashes may have then been employed to thoroughly cook the meat or to soften an otherwise tough meat. After cooking, the meat would be quickly consumed.
Toxic plants abound in the rainforest, but many such as black beans and cycad seeds have been used as staple foods by Aboriginal people, following a lengthy processing involving cooking, scraping and leaching with running water. The abundance of these foods and the high carbohydrate content make this worthwhile.
For over 50,000 years, Australia's Indigenous community cared for country by using land management that worked with the environment. Using traditional burning, fishing traps, and sowing and storing plants, they were able to create a system that was sustainable and supplied them with the food they needed.
In salting, panag-etag and panag-asin are the two identified indigenous food preservation techniques, while panagtapa and panagkiing are the techniques employed in drying. Meanwhile, panagsuob is being practiced under smoking, and panagbubod is done in fermentation.
Aboriginals were hunters and gatherers, hunting wildlife to provide meat and gathering fruits, seeds and insects for their daily meals. Each season, weather conditions and geographic location would impact the types of food available, making their diet varied and well balanced.
Leaching is the process of dissolving the toxins in water to remove them from the plant. Cycasin has a solubility of 56.6 gL-1. Given a plentiful supply of water the leaching of toxins from cycads was a rather simple process, yet the time required could vary from a few hours to days.
Open entries into fractured rock aquifers (underground layers of water-bearing rock) are referred to as rock wells. Aboriginal clans used these rock wells for their precious water stores and protected the water from the elements and animals by covering the well with rock slabs or branches8.
A practical example of filtering can be found in southwest Victoria, where in traditional times, Gunditjmara Aboriginal peoples used flowering honeysuckle cones (banksias) to filter water from muddy pools when clean drinking water was unavailable.
Traditionally, the primary methods of cooking used by Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders were boiling, steaming, roasting, cooking on open fires or underground ovens. Some foods such as seeds, nuts, fruits and berries could be eaten raw.
Such methods include soaking, drying, fermenting, boiling, and roasting.
Bark troughs
Used to boil water on the open fire (large seas shells were also used for this job). The bark troughs were also employed to help separate seeds from other rubbish that may have been gathered with them (dirt and bark etc). Seeds were tossed into the air and then caught again in the trough.
The Aboriginal people devised a way to leach the toxins out of the seeds. First, they would roast the seeds in a fire, then cut them up into smaller pieces and soak them in water for several days. Finally, they would pound the seeds into a flour, which was then mixed with water to make unleavened bread.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples also use the combustion of resins and gums derived from a range of trees and shrubs to provide light and to carry fire from campsite to campsite. Various bundles of bark, branches and dried flower heads are smeared with resin or gum and used as torches.
The use of cultural burning and use of sustainable and seasonal crop species meant that Indigenous communities were food secure and able to support populations for over 65,000 years.
The islands were settled by different seafaring Melanesian cultures such as the Torres Strait Islanders over 2500 years ago, and cultural interactions continued via this route with the Aboriginal people of northeast Australia.
For Walmajarri people like Jimmy Pike, the word for permanent water is Jila, whereas the word for seasonal water is Jumu.
Bores, wells and spring water are important for communities in very dry areas of Australia. It is vital that the water from these sources is managed well so that the water supply is always available and safe enough to drink. Bore water is the major source of water for remote Aboriginal communities.
Toxic factors can sometimes be destroyed by denaturation, as with enzymes, protease inhibitors and phytohaemagglutinins. They can also be physically removed, for example by leaching, solvent extraction or solid classification methods, as in the removal of gossypol from cottonseed protein, or of phytate from cereals.
Kidneys: The kidneys mainly filter blood to help remove toxins and byproducts from our body via urine. Colon: The colon eliminates byproducts from our body via bowel movements. Lungs: The lungs eliminate airborne toxins via breathing.
We call the process of eliminating toxins, “detoxication” or “detoxification,” which is the opposite of “intoxication.” Different tissues detoxify in varying ways. Lungs can detoxify by removing gases (gas anesthetics are removed from the body by the lungs).
In the alpine regions of New South Wales, aboriginal people would gather at certain times of the year to feast on Bogong Moths. The moths were ground to a paste between stones. In other parts of Australia, Indigenous people constructed elaborate fish and eel traps in creeks and rivers.
What? Yandi dishes (sometimes called a Coolamon) are multi-purpose shallow vessels or dishes traditionally used by Aboriginal people to carry water, fruits, nuts, and other types of bush tucker. They were also used to winnow chaff from collected seeds.
There is no one Aboriginal word that all Aborigines use for Australia; however, today they call Australia, ""Australia"" because that is what it is called today. There are more than 250 aboriginal tribes in Australia. Most of them didn't have a word for ""Australia""; they just named places around them.