First batch of Ooray jam for the season, made with this recipe.
I’ve written about Ooray before, but I’ve called it Davidson’s plum.
Which was somewhat ignorant of me. As we Australians of Anglo descent tend to be, not by choice but because our education has been woefully lacking and in so many places straight out wrong.
Ooray were named Davidson’s Plum after John Ewen Davidson (1841–1923), a Scottish-born immigrant who settled the sugar plantation in far north Queensland where it was collected by plant collector John Dallachy in the 1860’s. It was given the Latin name of Davidsonia pruriens by the government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, German born Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller.
Of course it is bonkers to suggest that Davidson, or Dallachy or “Baron Sir” von Mueller “discovered” it, because it was well and truly known as delicious and medicinal long before they came on the scene. But Davidson was not one to respect indigenous knowledge, or country, or even life. His own diaries record mass murder, plunder of “artefacts” for his collections, slave owning.
Mine are not even Davidsonia pruriens, but Davidsonia jerseyana (named by botanist FM Bailey, who seems to at least have been a much nicer person). It’s the variety native to the rainforests of northern NSW. Ooray is the name in some aboriginal languages of Davidsonia pruriens, but the name in Bundjalung language of northern NSW for jerseyana is Gudjin. But so much indigenous knowledge has been lost that if I call it Gudjin jam, almost nobody will know what I mean.
These jars of jam are destined to be Christmas presents. Gudjin, or Ooray, or the fruit of Davidsonia jerseyana, make spectacularly good jam, tart and deeply flavourful to balance the jam sweetness, and such a beautiful jewel colour. But I actually prefer it fresh. It’s mouth-puckeringly sour as is, but split and marinated with a sprinkle of sugar overnight in the fridge, it makes a magnificent yoghurt topping for breakfast. Or, my recent revelation, squeezed into a gin and tonic.
