Good day everyone.
This month I'm going to take you down into the desert country south of Halls Creek past Balgo Remote Community and to an area on the edge of the Tanami Desert. My visit was on the back of two good wet seasons and some late winter rains and the country was teeming with life. It was a joy to behold and easy to understand that people had still lived here traditionally in small family groups only 50 or so years ago.
One of the foods that people relied heavily on for survival in this country was bush potato, Ipomea costata or karnti, as it is known in the local Jaru language.
On the drive saw it growing along the road verges in sand country where the wind rows allowed the water to gather thus providing favourable conditions for the plant to thrive. It's large pinky/purple trumpet shaped flowers and dark green leaves on upright scrambling tendrils give it the ability to creep along the ground or climb surrounding bushes.
Identifying and recognising the plant was the easy part. People would then look for cracks in the ground near the plant indicating tubers had formed. The next step was to dig, following the root tendrils down, taking care not to break or lose them in the process. If you were lucky it would only be a short dig but could also require excavating down to well past a metre.
However, the hard work was worth the reward with the tubers being up to the size of a small melon and shaped like a sweet potato. Baked in a ground oven the vegetable has a texture and taste like a potato.
Karnti is a common subject in many desert artist's work and underlines the significance of the plant to the people of this region. It is also found in the Pilbara region where it played a similar role in the lives of groups there. Although not relied on to the same extent as in years gone past, people still enjoy finding and eating the large tubers.
Karnti was not the only tuber of significance to the people of the desert regions. The Walmajarri people of the Great Sandy Desert utilised kujuntu, Vigna lanceolata in much the same way. Kujuntu or pencil yam has a scrambling prostrate habit with trifoliate pale green leaves and a pea shaped yellow flower. Both plants grow easily from seed, preferring deep sandy soils.
Karnti belongs in the same family as sweet potato Ipomea batatas. This starchy root vegetable is not only highly nutritious and tasty it grows easily from cuttings, as do other edible members of the Ipomea family including kangkong.
With the cuttings of karnti I collected from my trip I'm going to trial them in my vegetable patch in the upcoming months. I'll let you know how I go. I'd also be very happy to hear from anyone who has already had success. Catch you next time!
