Wattleseed
Acacia victoriae · Spice
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Wattleseed is the roasted, ground seed of several Australian wattle (Acacia) species — most often Acacia victoriae, A. murrayana and related arid-zone acacias — used as a nutty, coffee-and-chocolate-scented bush-food spice. It is one of the best-known "native" Australian flavorings, eaten by Aboriginal peoples for tens of thousands of years and now sold roasted and milled as a culinary spice.
Picking a good onedrag
Just milled from fresh-roasted seed, loud and oilyFaded, dusty, smells of nothing
Fresh jarEveryday bestDamper, bread, biscuits, cakes, a meat rub. Buy from the native-food trade: several wattle species are toxic, so never gather your own.
Open the jar and smellCoffee and toasted hazelnut once a pinch warms in the palm
Dry and grittyDry still; a soft clump that breaks apart under a finger
Roast colourDeep even brown, no pale flecks, the mill uniform