Wild Plum Wine

Just when I thought it was safe to step out of the winery……

in comes Jim, ‘bagged out’ with Illawarra Plums.  An interesting fruit, not least because the seed is on the outside. So began three days of deseeding and crushing, giving us plenty of time to try to think of a more efficient way of processing the fruit (no joy, by the way).

So the Illawarra  Plum Pine is indigenous to that area, with its latin name  Podocarpus elatus meaning ‘outside seed’. The fruit was harvested from the wild around Gerroa and Foxground.  They are olive sized, black and go by several other delightful names such as ‘snot berries’, due to their mucilaginous texture (which is relished by chefs for use with meat dishes). Being, as we are, ‘vegaquarians’, we just decided to turn the whole lot into high-class plonk. Plus we have come to appreciate the plum juice’s effectiveness as a dye – particularly to our hands, clothes and the winery floor.

I do believe we may be cooking up a batch of jam and cordials after the next harvest – I’ll keep you posted!