There are over 30 000 edible food plants in the world yet here in Australia we commonly eat less than 1% of these varieties. Given our versatile subtropical climate there is so much more on offer out there than the standard supermarket fare. Commercial crops are not always the most delicious or nutritious. They are the crops that are easy to mass produce, store and transport.

With our changing climate we are going to have to look beyond the standard varieties to those that are resilient and suitable for our changing growing conditions. In our subtropical garden on Yuggera Country (Brisbane) we grow hundreds of nonstandard edible food plants ranging from salad greens and perennial vegetables through to weird and wonderful fruits. Think cucamellons and pepinos rather than cucumbers, tamarillos and gooseberries rather than tomatoes and Okinawa spinach and sambung rather than lettuce. These often-perennial crops are not only adeptly suitable to our climate they are also hardy and resilient to be low maintenance and adaptable in our increasingly unpredictable climate.

Okinawa spinach and sweet potato leaves instead of lettuce.

Sweet chillies instead of capsiciums

Shatoot mulberries

Cherry tomatoes instead of large heritage varieties which are disease and fruit fly prone

Kwui muk rather than a peach or apricot

Sweet potato instead of potato

Greater yams rather than potatoes

Saw tooth corriander rather than regular corriander. Simply grow in water and deadhead regularly for the plant that will last years.

Grumichama rather than a cherry

Black Brazillian Cherry – superior flavour profile, hardy and resilient to pests.

Jaboticaba

Governers plum rather than a plum

Dwarf ducasse bananas rather than cavandish. They will perform far better during the colder months.

Custard apple just because you can and they are delicious!