Damper

Aborigines all over Australia make this native bread, which is traditionally baked in the hot ashes of a fire. While tribal names for bread are wikki, myhee, nurong or krepauwe damper was so christened by Aussie stockmen because it “dampened the appetite.”

The bread was originally made from the seeds of wild grasses, portulaca or Portulacaceae, the scientific name for purslane. Some dampers were even made from ground nuts. The seeds were winnowed in a coolam