The low fat, high nutrient nut we’re all sleeping on

These native Australian nuts are an energy and nutrient dense food with huge commercial potential.

Researcher Jaqueline Moura Nadolny has been studying the nutritional value of native bunya nuts.

University research shows native Australian bunya nuts are an energy and nutrient-dense bushfood with a huge commercial potential, even as the ancient pine species faces a threat from a pathogen that is killing it in its ­native range.

Found throughout southeast Queensland and in isolated rainforest patches in the state’s north, typically long-lived bunya pines have been dying mysteriously in recent years.

The dieback has recently been attributed to a soilborne pathogen, which has wiped out stands of the distinctive, towering trees in areas where they have survived since the Jurassic period and provided a staple food resource for Indigenous people.

University of Queensland researcher Jaqueline Moura Nadolny said the similarities between the Queensland species and two similar trees from the same family that grew in Brazil and Chile led her to believe propagation through grafting could offer a way to help preserve bunya pines and offer future seedstock.

“Established bunya trees are under threat from phytophthora, a root rot that causes dieback,” Dr Moura Nadolny said.

“It’s critical new trees are planted, as well as grafted to speed up fruiting to within five or six years. Each tree can produce hundreds of cones, each containing up to 100 nuts.”

Bunya pines in the Bunya Mountains, Queensland.

Typically it takes 20 years for a bunya pine to start producing seeds, but grafted specimens from the tree family in South America can produce nuts within three to six years.

Dr Moura Nadolny said a similar process in Australia could provide seed stock to repopulate bunya trees. “It’s not preserving the big trees, which is really important for Indigenous people, but at least it could preserve the nuts to be planted later,” she said.

Her research for the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation found the football sized bunya pine cones, each with about 100 nut segments, offered a genuine commercial potential as a food crop, as they are used in her native Brazil.

Bunya nut samples.

She said the nuts, which had not previously been extensively studied for their nutritional value, are “low in fat, high in fibre, ­gluten-free and contain all the essential amino acids, protein and folate, while the husk is high in antioxidant compounds”.

The nuts can be cooked or turned into gluten-free flour, which can produce bread that has a savoury, fermented taste similar to sourdough.

A bunya nut cone.

Shannon Bauwens, of the Bunya People’s Aboriginal Corporation, hopes the research can be used to preserve the species and build a commercial industry for Indigenous people.

“The bunya nut has a strong cultural significance to traditional owners and other Indigenous peoples who gathered for thousands of years in pre-colonial times for feasting and ceremonies,” Mr Bauwens said. “The Bunya Mountains in southern Queensland are home to the largest known stand of the species in the world, and the trees live for hundreds of years. Creating an industry around the bunya nut would not only ensure its survival but create a sustainable industry for the mob, allowing them to share their knowledge.”