COVID-19 Update: For the past couple of months, we have all been busy Isolation Baking, trying out new recipes or re-visiting old ones. As I was lucky enough to be offered several kilograms of Davidson’s Plums, I decided to revisit the recipe I posted in 2012, update it a bit and repost. So here it is …
The summer after I moved to my new house I was excited to discover a mature Davidson’s Plum tree at the back of the property. I was excited for two reasons. Firstly it seems that neither bats nor birds are attracted to the fruit, and secondly and very conveniently the fruit drops when ripe and all you have to do is pick it up. I placed some weed mat under the tree to stop the fallen fruit rolling away into the undergrowth, but I missed some and now have several small trees growing around the base.
Davidson’s Plum fruit and jam are becoming more readily available, and can be found in some gourmet and “bush tucker”stores if you don’t want to wait the 4-5 years for your tree to fruit. I have a Davidsonia jerseyana – which is native to the sub-tropical rain forests of Northern New South Wales. The fruit of this tree is extremely tart and only the very brave would attempt to eat it raw. If you can eat a lemon, you could probably cope with a Davidson’s Plum! It also has 100 times the Vitamin C found in oranges.
It’s very low in pectin so if you want to make a nice thick jam you’ll need to add some. Rather than add the commercial stuff, I experimented with green apples. My recipe Davidson’s Plum Jam works quite well and the resulting jam has a tangy/sweet taste which goes particularly well with toasted macadamia and fruit bread from Bellingen’s Hearthfire Bakery
A Bellingen Diary 
Hi Fenella,
I just did a Google search for a recipe for Davidson’s Plum jam (since I have four fruiting trees at the moment), and guess which page was at the top of my search! I love your blog, especially the frog page 🙂 I’m going to make 2kg of jam tomorrow!
Take care, Kevin from Fernmount
Thanks Kevin and lucky you … I have an earlier fruiting variety which dropped all its fruit when I was away in Sydney!
Hello Fenella, my parents-in-law have given me a load of plums from their trees, so today is a jam-making day. One question, though – is it 500gm of plums stoned or whole? I guess it doesn’t matter all that much, but I’ve only got one shot at it…Thanks in advance!
Hi Mike – I weighed mine whole. Your choice whether or not you remove the seeds. It’s a messy process and they don’t weigh much so I doubt it will make any difference to the recipe. There are two small seeds per plum by the way … good luck.
I’m thinking I might chuck the seeds back in the pot, because there’s a lot of plum on them and people can always fish them out as they go. I’ve made your recipe once before, by the way – couldn’t remember what I did last time, but it was a triumph. The vanilla pod is a stroke of genius.
Hi Fenella,I just found 20 of these plumbs at the bottom of a tall tree would have never guessed.The fruits are extremly hard,so do I wait a while before trying out your recipe?
Hi Joey,
If they’ve fallen on the ground, they should be ripe and you are “good to go”. If you wait for them to get softer you may find that grubs move in.
Mind you, some of my pots of jam have included a few small grubs and no-one ever knew 🙂
Thankyou for a swift reply they had no time to soften.Whats a grub or three there a high source of protein!
Dear Fenella, thank you for the recipe. My Davidson Plum jam turned out great.
I live at Careel bay on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. We have the one tree, a gift from a friend
and planted to add to our tropical themed garden. Having the fruit was a surprise.
Crop was just 300g but made a nice little pot. Happy New Year to you. Rob
Great to hear that Rob. Thanks for letting me know.