Natal Plum Fruit Tree - Taste Test Like Kiwi And Strawberry Cross

Hi I'm Alex and welcome to Daly's Fruit Tree Nursery. Today I'm with Jessie and we're at Tropical Fruit World doing my absolute favourite thing and probably your favourite thing Jessie, which is seed collecting. So one of the things I've propagated over and over again at Daly's Nursery and at home is the Natal plum. Beautiful. And embarrassingly I've never actually tried the fruit. Really? Yeah. Beautiful treat then. So this tree it's quite thorny and it originates from South Africa I think. Yeah. And it produces these beautiful plum-like fruits. So one of the key things is you have to pick them when they're just ripe. So not too under ripe. Why is that Jessie? So actually in their under ripe state like this one that I've picked here, they actually have really high amounts of latex which can make you feel quite ill. So you can see this white sap that's oozing out of it there. That one's just got a little bit too much of that milky sap which as we talked about earlier is one of those indicators that something is poisonous. So yeah with this one that's a little bit under ripe. This one here is a little bit too over but perfect for Alex's seed collection. Yes. So we'll be tucking that away for later but I believe we've found one in here that is just right in the Goldilocks state. Yes. So you can see how they grow on the tree. Now ignore the fruit behind. There's some red berries behind, lots of weed but this one is perfect. You can see that's a green one there. Now how can we tell? If you just gently squeeze you'll see it's soft to the touch. So they're not rock hard. They're a little bit and that should have a lot less of that milky latex in there. Yes. So you can see that you don't have all that whiteness coming out. There are the beautiful seeds that are used to propagate and if I break this open you can see that flesh which is perfectly ripe. So should we try tasting these? I'd love to see what you think. In my opinion it's a little bit like if you crossed a kiwi fruit and a strawberry. Wow. Everybody has wildly different ideas about this one. So let's see what you think. Oh my gosh. It's way better than I expected. I don't know what I had expected but I think you're right. It's like nothing I've tasted. Yeah. So it's very difficult to describe. I think kiwi cross strawberry is a really kind of good because it's got that texture. If you combined a kiwi and a strawberry with the texture it's got almost little segments like a kiwi fruit but then it's a little bit soft like a strawberry with a little bit of a yeah more a slight strawberry flavor. Yeah a little bit of that berry sweetness. Yes. Yeah. So they're really great. So you can also make jams, jellies, drinks. Do you have a way that you like? You can dehydrate them and use the powder which is something that I definitely do with them. Yeah. They freeze really nicely as well. You could make them into ice cream, smoothies. Well it's your oyster. And you know what I love about this? If you want an impenetrable hedge they're commonly grown as a hedge to keep animals out in South Africa. So they are a bit thorny but the great thing is they don't have invasive roots. They can be hedged really easily. They can grow in pots. So they're just a great all-rounder. And also like in an Australian climate they're really really good for our small bird species to be able to hide in there from predatory birds as well. They love making nests don't they as well? Yeah. Beautiful. That is the Natal plum and I'll get on and collect a heap more seed and propagate these in the nursery. If you're wanting to learn more about the Natal plum we'll put links in the description below. And if you're interested in purchasing one you can order them online and we deliver most parts of Australia. Thanks so much for watching. Thanks so much Jessie. You're welcome. See you later.