ABSTRACT
The fresh or dried fruit, although eaten in remote Aboriginal communities, is never sold for consumption as a whole fruit in commercial marketplaces. The flavour is considered by most to be rather acrid to be eaten whole in anything but small quantities, although as a flavouring ingredient, it imparts an attractive zest to food products. Definitive validated data on mean bush tomato production and price are difficult to obtain, but variability in production, prices and supply reliability is apparent. Fruit is most commonly traded in the dried form, though fresh fruit is also traded. Australian native plants have in general evolved under nutrient-deficient conditions and particularly so with regard to phosphorus nutrition. Accordingly, it is often opined that restricted fertilizer application is preferable for such plants during the course of cultivation. Bush tomato is a perennial crop and, once planted, can be expected to last many years by taking advantage of the plants' propensity for copious suckering.
