A growing appetite for uniquely Australian cuisine has led to a popular native flower being developed into a food flavouring.
If breeders have their way, bunches of edible Geraldton wax flowers could soon appear next to rosemary in the supermarket.
Perth-based plant breeder Helix Australia develops varieties of Geraldton wax and barona flowers to sell to the global cut flower market.
But for the past three years, the breeders have also been eating the plants, and they will soon launch a variety developed specifically for the kitchen.
Helix managing director Adrian Parsons is an avid cook and it was a food magazine article that sparked the idea to take a nibble.
He described the flavour as "zesty with citrus notes, a little bit like lemon myrtle".
"It is the leaf that is used, similar to the way you would use rosemary — you would strip the leaf of a wax flower plant, you blend it with some oil and a pinch of salt and create a green salsa-verde paste and that can be used on fish prawns or lamb," Mr Parsons said.