Illawarra Plum
About
Illawarra Plum forms a straight, narrow, small tree. It grows naturally in rain forest areas of NSW and Queensland.The leaves are shiny and stiff. The seed forms on the end of a purplish black, fleshy, plum like stalk.The fleshy stalk is edible, but not especially palatable raw, being very mucilaginous. However it is used extensively in the Bush Food Industry as a flavoring, in making sauces and jams. Most of the product is wild harvested. Colour: vivid purple.
Appearance: fleshy, plum-like, 2 to 3 cm in diameter.
The Illawarra plum has a subtle flavour, but is blessed with an antioxidant level many times higher than blueberries, a more typical fruit thought of as antioxidant-rich. Illawarra plum MUST be cooked in non-aluminum saucepans. It goes seriously horrible if it picks up that metal taint. the fibrous core is extremely bitter and to be watched out for.Illawara plums make excellent jams, chutneys, and particularly good tart sauces for rich meats such as kangaroo, venison, beef, or even emu.
