Dr. John A. King spent a morning with Indigenous elders learning about traditional law and language. He also explains how to make bush candy from gum tree leaves: scrape the small white resinous dots, roll them into balls, and lick them for a sweet, minty treat that works like natural toothpaste.
Had a pretty amazing morning today talking lore with some old fellas and sitting around talking customs and about our people, and it's pretty amazing. My sister-in-law taught me a really cool thing. Now, on the, on the, on the leaves of gum trees are these little white dots. Now, they're called bush candy. Now, you take these You scrape, you scrape the white off in your finger, and you lick it just a little bit, and you ball it up, and it's like a candy. It's a sweet candy that the blackfellas eat, and it's with the eucalypt. It's got a touch of eucalypt in. You make a tiny little ball, and you just eat it, and tastes absolutely beautiful. It's like a minty eucalypt flavored thing, and it freshens your mouth. It's like a natural toothpaste. Toothpaste. Freshens your mouth and does all that sort of stuff. It's, uh, it's pretty fancy, eh?
