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Last fall I received a gift package containing 2 jars of beautiful claret colored homemade jelly, made from Beach Plums. I had never heard of them! The taste was outstanding and I wanted some for my own garden. Since I am just starting a small fruiting garden area and still selecting fruits to grow, I started researching all I could find out about beach plums.
Plum is the common name for 100+ species of Prunus. 30 of the species are native to North America, including P. domestica (greengage and prune plums), P. americana (wild red plum) and P. maritima, the beach plum (or shore plum). The beach plum is a low-growing fruiting shrub or small tree native along the sandy dunes of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts all the way up to Newfoundland. It is most common on Cape Cod where beach plum has become a cottage commercial venture for Beach Plum Jams and Jellies.
Beach Plums grow wild all over the Cape and local residents all have their own variations of sparkling clear red jams and jellies to sell in the fall at local farm stands or give as holiday gifts. Some residents even have recipes for Beach Plum Brandy handed down from generation to generation. The prolific fruits are rather small, usually less than an inch long, and range in colors of red, pink, green, yellow, blue and purple. The fruit ripens in early September and is tart but seldom eaten fresh the way most plums are eaten. Actually, the ripe flesh is sweet and just the skin is bitter.
The photos of beach plums shown here are all from the beach (Cape Cod) where the trees seldom get more than 7 feet tall. Inland and in the right growing conditions, they can reach 18 feet tall with trunks as large as 8” in diameter. The best inland growing conditions are slightly acidic, somewhat dry, moderately fertile loamy soils. They dislike heavy, wet clay but will tolerate moderately drained soils. They should be mulched but not fertilized the first 2-3 years, and kept weeded of competing grasses. After becoming well established, beach plums are pretty carefree.
Beach Plum propagation is 4 months’ cold, moist stratification of seed, or by softwood cuttings early in the season or late-summer budding. Hardiness is reported in zones 4-7. They can tolerate coarse, low-nutrient, low water-holding soils but neither wet sites nor shade.
There is a shrub called sand cherry that is often mistaken for beach plum. The sand cherry grows in dunes along the Great Lakes and has small, bitter black fruits. [1] Some similar to beach plum species are P. subcordata (Oregon and California), P. americana (central and eastern U.S.), P. augustifolia (southern U.S.) and P. nigra (northern U.S. and Canada).
The beach plum leaves have been used as a yellow or green dye, and a dark grey to green dye can be obtained from the fruit.
Cultivars 'Eastham' has large well-flavored fruit and is a heavy cropper. 'Squibnocket': This ornamental form has a high quality fruit and is also a good sand binder. 'Hancock': An early ripening form with golden flesh that is sweet and juicy, with little acidity. It is excellent for eating raw. 'Raribank': The purplish-red fruit is of good quality, it is freestone and ripens in late summer. It is good for jellies and for canning. A large vigorous tree, it is very resistant to brown rot and Japanese beetle
One new variety is ‘Ocean View’, developed for conservation uses in 1992 by the Cape May Plant Materials Center in Cape May Courthouse, NJ. It is an excellent erosion-control plant.
Most beach plums are considered self-sterile and require cross pollination for good fruit set. It is also thought that closely related bushes from within a limited area will not cross pollinate. Wild bees are the most common pollinator, followed by bumble bees and honeybees. [2]
Beach Plum: A New Crop for New Markets, which includes reports and a Grower's Guide (pdf format) with info on pre-plant site preparation, is available here: http://www.beachplum.cornell.edu/
Biscuits: 2 cups all-purpose flour 5 tablespoons sugar, divided 1 tablespoon baking powder 1⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided 1⁄2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄2 inch cubes 3⁄4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whipping cream 1 large egg
Vanilla ice cream
For filling: Preheat oven to 400F. Toss plum, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla in large bowl to coat. Transfer to a 13x9x2 inch glass baking dish. Bake until thick and bubbling at the edges, about 30 minutes.
For biscuits: Whisk flour, 3 tbsp. sugar, baking powder, salt and 1⁄4 tsp. cinnamon in large bowl to blend. Add butter in with fingertips until coarse meal forms. Whisk 3⁄4 c. whipping cream and egg in small bowl to blend. Stir cream mixture into flour mixture just until blended. Gently knead in bowl until dough comes together, about 5 minutes.
Remove beach plums from oven and stir gently. Break off golf ball size pieces of dough and arrange over hot plum mixture, spacing apart. Brush dough with remaining 2 tbsp. Cream. Mix remaining 2 tbsp sugar and 1⁄4 tsp. cinnamon in small bowl. Sprinkle over dough.
Bake cobbler until fruit is bubbling, biscuits are browned and tester inserted into center of biscuits comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve hot or warm with vanilla ice cream.
8 servings
About Darius Van d'Rhys
I have a 'growing my own food' obsession that grew out of my overlapping interests in cooking, nutrition and gardening. I am also a teacher (but outside the System), a writer, and a builder… and a craftsperson and... and… and many other things, LOL. In fact, I guess I am a generalist.
I live in the southern Appalachian Mountains on a hillside with a creek in front and drive a 15 year old truck I lovingly call “My Farmer’s Ferrari.”
Posted by darius (from Marion, VA) on July 7, 2008 at 9:10 AM:
Thanks, Todd. I'm always a bit leery of buying live plants on ebaY unless the vendor is recommended. Let me know how yours fares, please?
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Subject: Beach Plums
Posted by northlake (from Orlando, FL) on April 30, 2008 at 12:56 AM:
will they grow in central Florida???
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Posted by darius (from Marion, VA) on April 30, 2008 at 1:57 AM:
Sorry, Hardiness is reported in zones 4-7.
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Subject: Beach Plums on Delmarva
Posted by 614longfellow (from Mount Airy, MD) on April 28, 2008 at 5:55 PM:
My father's family grew up on the Eastern Shore in lower Delaware and I now have a cottage in nearby Maryland. Each year we anxiously awaited the ripening of the wild beach plums that grew all along the shore - and the jelly that my aunts always made after picking them. Now, of course, overdevelopment has caused them to disappear in many of their original areas, but luckily I still have several large bushes of them right beside my cottage. They are a pleasure to look at all year, have beautiful blooms, and oh, those delicious berries!
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Posted by darius (from Marion, VA) on April 28, 2008 at 5:59 PM:
longfellow... I lived in Annapolis and went over to the Delmarva peninsula, esp. Rehoboth, a lot but I don't remember seeing beach plums. Good for you to have some at your cottage!
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Posted by beebe (from Ambler, PA) on April 28, 2008 at 7:38 PM:
I have 34' on the beach in Sea Isle , and have been trying to find a source for beach plums. I would love to buy two small ones but can't find anywhere to purchase them. Please let me know of anyone in Cape May Co., N.J. who may have some for sale. Thank you
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Posted by darius (from Marion, VA) on April 28, 2008 at 9:08 PM:
beebe, there are good sources at the end of my beach plum article. Locally, you may need to run an ad...
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Posted by ToddPhilly (from Philadelphia, PA) on July 7, 2008 at 5:25 AM:
Most of those sources are wholesale only. But there is at least one grower selling individual plants on eBay at [HYPERLINK@cgi.ebay.com] or use their search box.
Cheers,
Todd
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Subject: Our group picks them every year
Posted by rosewood513 (from Lanoka Harbor, NJ) on April 28, 2008 at 8:41 AM:
I belong to a master gardener group in Jersey. Every year we have a Beach Plum festival.
I never heard of them either and actually have not yet participated, for whatever reason. I am hoping to go this year. It appears to be a lovem' or leavem' kind of fruit.
Everyone seems to have a ball and they bring them home and make some impressive jams and jellies from them.
I am lookijng forward to this years bounty and the fun that goes along with the 'picken'.
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Subject: Plums
Posted by phicks (from Lakeland, FL) on April 23, 2008 at 11:36 AM:
We Use To Pick Theam in Wareham Mass Then Down in Va To As Kids Paul
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Posted by melody (from Benton, KY) on April 23, 2008 at 10:59 PM:
Never had Beach Plums, but this brought back memories of the local wild plums we used to gather.
wonderful article!
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Posted by darius (from Marion, VA) on April 23, 2008 at 11:04 PM:
Thanks Mel and Paul... I'm hoping to plant some this fall.
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Subject: Yummy!
Posted by CMoxon (from Urbandale, IA) on April 23, 2008 at 8:23 AM:
Great article - I didn't know anything about beach plums, but considering they are hardy into my zone, I think I shall have to give them a try! I wonder how much the deer will go for them? Thanks for teaching me something new!
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Posted by roseone33 (from Southern Mountains, GA) on April 23, 2008 at 9:00 AM:
My Mom used to tell nostalgic tales about picking beach plums every summer on Martha's Vineyard. Brings back fond memories. Thanks for a great article.
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Posted by bbrookrd (from nantucket, MA) on April 27, 2008 at 9:14 PM:
Darius, A very nice article for my favorite jelly. I am so pleased to have shared my love of it with you. I am growing some for you. We will keep our fingers crossed that this years crop will bring another hundred jars off that one tree. I always look forward to your articles. Thanks for you enthusiasm for the beach plum. I will keep you on BP list for sharing next fall. Patti
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Posted by darius (from Marion, VA) on April 27, 2008 at 10:55 PM:
Thanks, everyone and especially Patti who introduced me to beach plums, and supplied the photos. :)
Plum is the common name for 100+ species of Prunus. 30 of the species are native to North America, including P. domestica (greengage and prune plums), P. americana (wild red plum) and P. maritima, the beach plum (or shore plum). The beach plum is a low-growing fruiting shrub or small tree native along the sandy dunes of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts all the way up to Newfoundland. It is most common on Cape Cod where beach plum has become a cottage commercial venture for Beach Plum Jams and Jellies.
The fruit ripens in early September and is tart but seldom eaten fresh the way most plums are eaten. Actually, the ripe flesh is sweet and just the skin is bitter.
