Midyim Berries: Australian Berries that Taste like Nutmeg Custard
Austromyrtus spp.
This image was obtained under Creative Commons licensure from HERE.
Researching the Midyim berry (pronounced mid-JUM) is like walking through a house of mirrors. You enter the quest to find what appears to be a wealth of information. There are seemingly dozens upon dozens of really old books, spanning centuries, with at least a small blurb on the Midyim berry.
Quickly, though, you learn that appearances are funny things.
All paths lead you face-to-face with the reflection of 19th century Quaker missionary and botanist, James Backhouse. Backhouse tells you something like, “these are the tastiest wild berries I have found in Australia.”
Interesting.
You move to another resource, and find James Backhouse’s reflection telling you the very same thing. Quickening your pace, you move to another corridor. And another. And another.
Oh no! I’m lost.
Seemingly every book—in duplicates stretching infinitely into the past and future— contain James Blackhouse’s reflection from 1843. Fearing the worst, you peer into your high school yearbook:
NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Then—gasp—you find something: a truly unique statement on the Midyim berry from the 1800s. You can tell that this statement has not been read in a very long time. You decide to save it for later to keep your readers engaged.
Red-eyed with an aching brain, you look to the internet for some videos on Midyim berries to break up the monotony.
You find a short one of a Queenslander guzzling beer while chucking fistfuls of fertilizer at his Midyim Berry plants…
What and why did I just witness?
You subscribe to this man.
Next you discover a 38 second video featuring a woman named Ruth timidly planting a Midyim plant into the ground at what appears to be a wildlife preserve. The video format is not supported by your website. As you move to close the video, you hear Ruth reassuring you through a din of tropical birds that the Midyim is among the tastiest berries in Australia.
Backhouse! Leave this woman at once!
Then the video trail goes cold.
Wait, that’s it? There are the only two videos on the Midyim berry on the entire internet? How can I write an entire article on such a mysterious plant?
Well, Travelers, with a little blog scouring, archive pounding, blood, sweat, and Tylenol, we have squeezed the resources of the world to create the best doggone brief overview that ever was. Until we visit Australia.
Welcome to the enigmatic funhouse world of Austromyrtus dulcis:
The Midyim Berry!
"Austromyrtus dulcis (Midgen Berry) - cultivated" by Arthur Chapman is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Family — Myrtaceae
Family Characteristics — Consisting of trees and shrubs found in Australia, Myrtaceae family members tend to have opposite leaves that are studded with glandular hairs/spots with stipules (stipules are small leaves that often appear at the base of a fully formed one) that either do not exist, or are vestigial. The flowers tend to be radially symmetrical with an inferior ovary. Myrtaceae flowers give way to either berries or capsules that split open at maturity [1]
Binomial Synonyms— Myrtus tenuifolia
Colloquial Aliases — Midgem, Midgenberry, Midjin, Midyim (from Gubi Gubbi language), Narrow-leaf Myrtle, Native Blueberry, Sand Berry, Silky Myrtle, Tall Midgenberry.
Binomial Etymology — Austro- is derived from the Latin, Australis, meaning “south” or “southern” and -myrtus is derived from Greek referring to the Myrtle; dulcis is a Latin term for “sweet. [4]” So, it is a good bet that this binomial is referring to a sweet southern myrtle.
Binomial Pronunciation: — awe-strOE-mer-tISS
Description
Austromyrtus dulcis grows as a small tree or a shrub with approximately 30mm-long (1 in) glossy green lanceolate leaves speckled with the glandular spots and undersides covered in appressed fuzz. The leaves are arranged in opposite rows [4].
The small (up to 10 mm/0.4 in diameter) radially symmetric white flowers occur solitarily or in axillary clusters of up to five. The berries are white with bluish or black speckling [4], and are ripe in the autumn months of Australia (March-May) [5].
"midyim" by anna_gregory is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Image borrowed from the Australian government from HERE.
Midyim Berry Habitat
The key to understanding why information on this plant is so hard to come by may be found in a single image. On the whole Earth, you will only find the Midyim berry on this sliver of Australia—>
Austromyrtus dulcis prefers the heaths, forests, and peripheral rainforest areas of that teeny area… in sandy soil... not exposed to direct seaspray [4]. That’s it.
"midyim berries" by anna_gregory is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Cooking with Midyim Berries
The berries are said to taste like “custard with nutmeg [6]” while being “sweet and tangy [7]” with a “pleasant gingery flavor. [8]”
The berries are eaten fresh in the Autumn months in Australia (March-May) and are also made into jam [5], pies [7].
Midyim Berries in Literature
The first quote by James Backhouse is the one most used in the literature. It is the quote that has haunted this research article for countless hours.
“Taking therefore my compass, I determined, to make my way direct to my companions, whom I succeeded in reaching, after some fatigue, by wading through a lagoon, and crossing some steep sand-hills. The latter, were overgrown by Myrtus tenuifolia, a Myrtle, of low stature, with narrow leaves, and sweet, aromatic, white berries, spotted with purple. These are the most agreeable, native fruit, I have tasted in Australia; they are produced so abundantly, as to afford an important article of food, to the Aborigines.”
James Backhouse (1843) [2]
Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for… a newly unearthed account of the Midyim berry. It’s by… eh-hem… James Backhouse.
This man went into the bush and gathered some pale, spotted berries, about the size of currants, which he brought to me, giving me to understand by his gestures that they were good to be eaten. I tasted them and found them very palatable, having a sweetish flavour. It is a low bush on which they grow, whose leaves are very small, and have a delightfully aromatic smell when rubbed between the hands. My companion informed me that the botanical name is Myrtus tenuifolia. It is very abundant both on Moreton and Amity Islands, and is about the best tasted indigenous fruit I have met with in either colony.
James Backhouse (1862) [3]
We wish our friends in Australia ample rain and relief from these terrible wildfires. Stay safe.
