Tag: Davidsons Plum

Davidson’s Plum Syrup

Published on by FJBLeave a comment

This season I decided to take a break from making Davidson’s Plum jam. Unfortunately though, my tree didn’t receive the notification and consequently ripe plums have been raining down for several weeks. I’ve offered them to my neighbours, but no takers so far. And as I can’t stand the thought of them all going to waste, I decided to try making a syrup to use in drinks, trifles, ice-cream, whatever I can think of …

Recipe:

  • 500g fresh or frozen Davidson’s Plums
  • 500g sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • Optional 3-4 pieces of Star Anise or a Vanilla Pod
  • Also optional a teaspoon of Rosewater at the end

Bring plums, sugar and water to the boil in a large saucepan.
Mash the fruit to release their juices and add the Star Anise or Vanilla Pod if using
Keep cooking at a slow boil for about 10 minutes or until it thickens slightly
Strain the mixture through a sieve into a large jug and allow to cool slightly whilst you sterilize a bottle by filling it with boiling water and allowing it to stand for 5-10 minutes.
Pour the water out of the bottle, and use a funnel to pour the juice into your bottle.
Add the Rosewater if using.

Notes:

  • This recipe makes about 250 ml of syrup and can be multiplied for larger batches
  • As freezing destroys the natural pectin useful in jam making, this is a great way to use up excess plums which you have frozen.
  • Pour the syrup over ice and add soda water for a refreshing alcohol free drink, or add to your Aperativo – I’ve used it in a gin & tonic and in even in a Negroni!
  • It’s delicious poured over a good quality vanilla ice-cream
  • And it’s quite addictive …
 
 
 
Negroni with syrup
Vanilla ice-cream & syrup
Soda, ice and Davidson’s Plum syrup
Davidson Plums ready to drop

 

Davidson’s Plum …

Published on by FJB10 Comments

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.

Baby Davidson’s Plum trees
Second batch needed pectin
Jam jars ready to be sterilized
On the stove top
Davidson Plums ready to drop

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 

Davidson’s Plum Jam Recipe …

Published on by FJB8 Comments

Davidson’s Plum Jam Recipe

See my post on Davidson’s Plums

500 gm fresh Davidson’s Plums (**see below for frozen)
500 gm sugar
juice of half a lemon
½ a vanilla pod – split open
Packet of pectin (eg: Jamsetta) just in case
(Makes 2 x 250gm pots – I usually double this recipe)

  • Wash the plums to remove any dust or dirt.  Cut the plums in half and make sure that you remove the two small seeds. Wear gloves if you don’t want to end up with nasty purple fingernails.
  • Put the plums, lemon juice and sugar into a saucepan and add just enough water to stop the bottom layer from burning (approximately 20mls) – no more or it will take too long to reduce.
  • Bring the fruit to a simmer very slowly, stirring all the time to ensure that the sugar is dissolved before the liquid starts boiling.
  • Add the vanilla pod.
  • Put a small saucer in the freezer to chill
  • Leave on a gentle simmer for 1-2 hours until the mixture has thickened and reduced.  Test the jam by dropping a teaspoonful on the frozen saucer – it should almost immediately thicken.
  • Sometimes (often), if the plums are not very ripe or particularly watery, the jam will not set, and rather than use more sugar I will add the pectin.  Follow the instructions on the packet, and don’t add too much until you have tested again on a saucer.
  • When you are happy with the set, remove the vanilla pods.
  • Allow to cool slightly.  If you want a smooth jam, you can blitz with a stick blender.  Then spoon into sterilized jars.

    ** Frozen plums – I often freeze my plums in 1Kg containers.  If you do this, the seeds can easily be squeezed out of the half defrosted plums. Also, I only recently learnt that if you freeze fruit, it reduces the gelling effect of the natural pectin.  So you will definitely need Jamsetta or similar.

Occasionally my jam just refuses to set, or I run out of pectin.
Don’t worry, it makes a great sauce on chocolate ice-cream!