Beach Plums [pics]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I give you-- The Beach Plum aka Rose Hips.

[Edit: Scroll down for discussion re: rose hips vs. beach plum.]









These pictures were taken in the state park and boat launch in Guiford, CT. I thought better of picking them, due to likely regulations against disturbing the native flora. But they were beautiful, with the flowers in bloom at the same time as the fruit is ready for picking. I'm trying to find some beach plum jam here in Connecticut. So far, it's not been available. I guess I'll have to drive up to the Cape.

Josephine wrote:These pictures were taken in the state park and boat launch in Guiford, CT.

Josephine,

Beautiful, though I most likely would not have been able to eating one plum, just one mind you.

Enjoy,
Gary

Pretty pix Josephine, tnx!

The leaf on that rose is obviously a rose leaf; but it's also not apparently a cultivated rose. Is it an indigenous variety ? In Kansas we've got sand hill plums, but they're actually plum species and not roses.

Interesting! Glad I came across your posting.

Geo
PS. I bet those hips are TART!

The leaf on that rose is obviously a rose leaf; but it's also not apparently a cultivated rose. Is it an indigenous variety ?

That particular rose grows wild on the seashore throughout the Northeast

Anyone who has visited the coast of New England in summer has probably noticed the old-fashioned , wild roses that sprawl along the shores, covering dunes like a carpet, and that tumble over split rails, dense as a fence. This is rosa rugosa, an Asian import that has taken to American soil and thrives along the Atlantic’s sandy, salt-sprayed, windswept shores. In fact, we plant it there, where it takes over and helps secure the dunes from erosion while looking New England quaint and pretty.

However, a rose hip is not a beach plum

http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_prma2.pdf

riskster,

Thank you for setting the record straight. I stand corrected. I will be on the lookout for the real beach plum - perhaps they are rarer than I thought. That may explain my failure to find beach plum jam in recent years. The plant pictured above is the only one I've seen on the coast of CT, Maine and Massachusetts, I am quite certain.

And, just in case anyone has a source, I am also on the lookout for real bayberry candles, which have a scent I crave as a memory of my grandmother, who used to have one burning at Christmastime.

I lived for 20 years in CT close to the coast and never saw a beach plum. I don't think the soil is right for them there. As a kid (a long time ago) we used to vacation in Cape Cod and also Cape May NJ and beach plum jam was pretty common in both places, but maybe development has eliminated a lot of the plants.


Edited to add: regarding bayberries and candles, these used to be all over the place in Cape Cod as well.

Just from looking at the pictures, it's clear that the Kansas sand hill plum and the beach plum are closely related species. Plus they both like sand--altho' the Kansas climate is most certainly not at all like the East Coast beach! But, I *think* I might be able to find you some sand hill plum jam Josephine, next time I'm back in KC. Would you like me to look? Obviously it wouldn't have the memories... but maybe it might have a close taste??

Wonder what happened to all the bushes? rickster is probably right: development.

Geo

Josephine,

I think you'll find all you'll ever need to know right here. And, for a contact, you might try rhu1@cornell.edu Don't know if it still works, but it might.

Interesting story...

Geo

Geo,

How interesting, thank you. The following seems relevant to your observation that the sand hill plum and beach plum appear to have some features in common:

"Improvement of native plums began only when the population of the country spread into climates such as that of the prairie states and the South, where old-world plums could not survive." (Emphasis added)

I would be very interested to try the Kansan plum jam if you locate it. The Kansas Sand Hills contain some lovely memories for me, as I accompanied my father, my uncle and my brother there on a quail hunting trip one fall when the long grass was red and the skies were slate blue before a rain. It's beautiful country, beautified by plums, no doubt.

Fruit preserves are truly the best of heritage foods, don't you think? I'm currently working on a jar of Georgian cornelian cherry preserves and a jar of mulberry jam from the slopes of Mount Ararat as well as some Connecticut apple butter.
My daughter and I made up a batch of wild grape jam from grapes she foraged near New London. This batch had a winey complexity - a hint of the Concord grape depth, without the cloying quality.

I happened to pick up my copy of Euell Gibbons' Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop this morning, and I came across his chapter on the Beach Plum.* He includes a number of recipes, including one for Beach Plum Chiffon pie, which he calls "the ultimate."

But the real purpose of this post is to alert LTH-ers to the fact that they don't have to travel to Cape Cod (or Kansas) to find the fruit. Gibbons writes, "I have picked excellent Beach Plums in the dunes of Indiana, near the southern end of Lake Michigan." [Emphasis added.]

* He covers a number of other edible seaside plants. I was particularly delighted to see that the illustration of the Beach Plum and Bayberry plants are on the same page. Gibbons suggests using a leaf of bayberry to flavor oyster stew. Now I really must find a bayberry, there is no other acceptable course of action.

I didn't run across any beach plum bushes this summer, but I did find some wonderful beach plum jelly at a farmstand in Tiverton, RI. I have to say that this is now one of my favorite jellies (I am a sucker for them). It has the clarity and astringency of a nice currant jelly, but with a notable plummy character. I now understand why the fruits are called beach plums. Later this summer, I found some rose hip jam. I will post again when I figure out what rose hips are all about, but I kind of want to save it for a special moment. Life is full of tiny pleasures, isn't it?





Three Sisters Beach Plum Jelly
Olde Cape Cod Products, Inc.
Box 630
Yarmouth, MA 02675

The first time I heard of beach plums was back in 1998, in the Food & Wine 1997 annual recipe collection. There was a recipe for venison with beach plum sauce. You're description of the taste of the beach plums sounds as though it would be ideal with venison.

Your post is only the second time I heard of beach plums!

Cynthia wrote: Your post is only the second time I heard of beach plums!

That's the great thing about foraging - learning about all the old foodways that are almost gone, it seems so sad- and then, you see that the ingredients are right at your feet, and there's hope again.

Cynthia- since you are a world traveller-I'm curious if you have ever tasted Dogwood Fruit or that other fruit of a type of dogwood tree, the cornelian cherry?

I've got Cornelian cherry dogwood Josephine, but they're only reaching bearing age now. And as they're in a strange spot in the yard, I always forget that they're there. Next year, I'll take a look!

Kansas City itself is zone 6, so we can grow just about everything. Of course, every 4-5 yrs we get a late Spring frost, which kills all the fruit on my grapes, crabapples, etc.

Don't ever plant elderberries! They spread and now I can't get rid of them.

Great about the beach plum jelly—good on you!

Geo

Josephine wrote:
Cynthia- since you are a world traveller-I'm curious if you have ever tasted Dogwood Fruit or that other fruit of a type of dogwood tree, the cornelian cherry?

That Dogwood Fruit looks fascinating. No, I haven't tried it, but it's now on the list. As for the cornelian cherry, I looked it up, and it sounds like things I've had, though I've never had it in a place where an English name was given, so who knows.

So many interesting things to try, so little time.

The Fall 2012 Issue of Gasstronomica has an interesting article on beach plums, beach plum propagation on Martha's Vineyard and on Cape Cod in the 30's and 40's, and on the current state of beach plum growing. There is renewed interest in the beach plum, a development I view with great delight. Here is a link to a Cornell website on the beach plum. It is complete with a list of growers and jelly makers. I just ordered myself some beach plum jelly from this site. Now, if I could only find a REAL bayberry candle, my Cape Cod cravings would be satisfied!

What an inspiration, Josephine! The Other Dr. Gale and I just bought a beach house in Peru NY, on Lake Champlain. This could be the *perfect* tree to put in the sand of our front 'yard'. Thank you!

Geo