The final meal taken on board the Endeavour after leaving Botany Bay was skate and warrigal greens, according to the diary of ship's botanist Joseph Banks. Banks also took some seeds back with him to Kew Gardens in 1771, making them the first Australian food plant to be cultivated abroad. Later, they also made their way to France, where, naturellement, they were renamed French spinach.

Tetragonia tetragonioides, also known as Botany Bay greens, native spinach or New Zealand spinach, is today one of the better known of our edible native plants. Food foragers and gardeners have long appreciated it for its accessibility and weed-like ability to thrive on neglect. Now chefs and the non-gardening public are catching on to Australia's own native spinach; a hardier and, some would say, tastier version of its English cousin.

Mike and Gayle Quarmby have been growing warrigal greens on their six-hectare farm at Reedy Creek in South Australia for 12 years, propagating 600-800 plants per cycle, organically on raised beds of composted seaweed. Mike Quarmby says the plants are fed with a special “brew” that makes them “grow like crazy”, with an impressive six weeks from seed to harvest.

It is the oval- or diamond-shaped leaves of this sprawling shrub that are eaten. They must always be blanched before eating, as the leaves contain oxalates which in high quantities can have adverse effects. Simply blanch in boiling water for around 10-15 seconds, remove and refresh under cold water. The good news is that warrigal greens are naturally very high in antioxidants. In fact, James Cook took them on voyages to prevent scurvy among his crew. This wild plant is also high in fibre, has sedative properties and is also believed to be effective in the prevention of ulcers.

The Quarmbys started selling it to chefs such as Neil Perry, Kylie Kwong and Simon Bryant in the early 2000s. Kwong uses it in stir-fries or chops it finely and mixes it with black fungus and ginger to use in dumplings at her Sydney restaurant, Billy Kwong.

Bryant has remained a steadfast advocate of the native spinach too, even growing the greens at home. “I use them in Asian stir-fries as the leaf is much more hardy and handles the heat better than spinach,” he says. “I also use them in pestos (see recipe below), in salads and basically as a spinach substitute.”

While the taste will be familiar to spinach-lovers, Bryant reckons warrigal greens have more complex flavour notes.

“They start with a herbivorous grassy taste and develop a few metallic bitter end notes as you chew which gives an interesting finish to a dish,” he says. “They are a water-wise native Australian plant which grows here so much easier than spinach: they self-seed, so no matter how much love you don't give them, they will grow right back.”

As well as sautéing or stir-frying, try warrigal greens with feta in a pie or quiche, or blanch then use as you would regular spinach for an antioxidant-packed green smoothie. Or maybe even have a go at an updated version of the Endeavour crew's final Australian meal, substituting skate (on the at-risk of being overfished red list) with a nice bit of trevally.

Where to buy

Ask your greengrocer to order some in or try Outback Pride (08 8768 7220) or I Love Warrigal Greens (0403 107 496).

Warrigal green and desert lime pesto with wholemeal pasta

Simon Bryant's pasta with warrigal green and desert lime pesto. Photograph: Simon Bryant's Vegies/Penguin Books Photograph: Simon Bryant's Vegies/Penguin Books

This recipe is from Simon Bryant's Vegies by Simon Bryan (Penguin Books, $39.99). Serves four.

500g wholemeal or spelt pasta

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Salt flakes and cracked black pepper

Shaved parmesan, to serve

Pesto

250g warrigal greens, leaves picked, baby leaves reserved to garnish

1 large handful sea parsley leaves and stalks, roughly chopped, a few leaves reserved to garnish

Juice of 3 lemons

1 cup (250 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to cover

200g macadamias

About 30 desert limes, plus a few halved limes to garnish

4 cloves garlic, peeled

Salt flakes and cracked black pepper

¾ cup (60g) grated parmesan

Method

To make the pesto, blanch the warrigal greens in a large saucepan of boiling water for 1 minute, then rinse in cold water. Drain well and squeeze out excess liquid. Roughly chop the blanched greens and the sea parsley and place them in a food processor with the lemon juice and a little olive oil. Blend until the greens are roughly pureed.

Add the macadamias, limes and garlic and continue to blend until the mixture looks like crunchy peanut butter. Continue blending slowly while drizzling in the remaining olive oil until you have a coarse pesto, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the parmesan and pulse to blend through, then check the seasoning.

Transfer the pesto to sterilised jars. Let it settle to remove any air bubbles, then cover with olive oil. This makes about 750 of pesto. Store it in the fridge for up to 3 months. If you want to eat the pesto as a dip, add a little more oil to thin it down.

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, then toss it in a little olive oil to prevent it from clumping together. Fold in 100g of pesto per serve, drizzle with olive oil and season with black pepper.

Make a salad of the reserved warrigal green baby leaves, sea parsley and desert limes. Season with salt to taste, then add a little olive oil and pepper.

Divide the pasta among bowls and garnish with the salad. Serve with shaved parmesan and a small bowl of extra pesto on the side, if you like.