This is the fourth installment of a column called “Science of the Shore,” written by Bianca Charbonneau, Phd candidate. Have a science question you would like answered? Email Bianca at [email protected]
When you think of coastal NJ fruits, I bet blueberries and cranberries are what come to mind. However, there is a third delicious fruit that gets much less attention that also thrives in our well drained, low nutrient, and acidic sandy coastal soils – beach plums (Prunus maritima).
Beach plum plants vary from year to year and place to place in terms of fruit size, appearance, and harvest haul, but they’re always delicious!
Beach Plums taste like a mix of strawberry, plum, and apricot with a tart skin. In fact, making beach plum jelly is a cultural past-time of the NJ shore. ‘True’ NJ shore locals know where to go to pick wild beach plums, but they will not divulge the location of their secret spots! The Friends of Island Beach State Park volunteers make jelly every year that can be purchased at the annual Beach Plum Festival festival.
Beach plum plants are shrubs that grow in a tree-like or low bushy form that can be found on natural coastal dunes. Their roots spread well both vertically and horizontally in low clay-content soils, and laterally, the roots can extend relatively far from the main trunk. As a result, they play a secondary role in stabilizing sand and giving coastal dunes the structure that they need to combat erosion during storms.
Efforts are underway to cultivate beach plums both as crops and to be planted to stabilize dunes like we plant American Beachgrass (Ammophila breviligulata). They tend to be 4-7 feet in height on dunes, but can reach heights of 16-18 ft if planted inland. On the dunes, salt spray, nutrient availability, shifting soil, and competition with other plants limiting their growth, but beach plums will grow in any well-drained high nutrient soil with full sunlight; talk to your local nursery about attaining a seedling! They can reach widths of 10-20 feet with many vertical woody shoots growing from the roots.
The fruit of the beach plum is the hidden treasure of the dunes! In April and May snow white colored flowers emerge before the leaves of beach plum plants do after winter. After the flowers are pollinated, by wind or bees, they turn pink-like and a beach plum fruit begins to develop. The fruit will ripen throughout the summer until they are ready to pick and eat August through September. When fully ripe, they look like miniature plums, ranging from 0.5-1 inch in diameter and coloration varies from a purplish-black-blue to red-yellow.
Beach plums, like many plants, used to be more prevalent in the past, than they are today; in 1609, Henry Hudson reported seeing an abundance of little blue plums, along the banks of the Hudson River. Today, you will not find beach plums along the Hudson, but they can still be found in the US from Massachusetts down to Virginia in undeveloped coastal dune areas. In fact, beach plums can be found growing at Island Beach State Park. However, remember to keep off the dunes!
If you want to look for beach plums, simply look to the left of start of the boardwalk at A2 and come to the Beach Plum Festival to get some beach plum jelly!
Biting into a hot buttered piece of toast with Beach plum jelly is a glorious thing! The flavor is probably somewhere between raspberry and blueberry jelly. Plus there’s also a wine under-taste (if that makes sense). Imagine your favorite red wine made into a sweet jelly.
Beach plum plants are shrubs that grow in a tree-like or low bushy form that can be found on natural coastal dunes. Their roots spread well both vertically and horizontally in low clay-content soils, and laterally, the roots can extend relatively far from the main trunk. As a result, they play a secondary role in stabilizing sand and giving coastal dunes the structure that they need to combat erosion during storms.
Beach Plums taste like a mix of strawberry, plum, and apricot with a tart skin. In fact, making beach plum jelly is a cultural past-time of the NJ shore. ‘True’ NJ shore locals know where to go to pick wild beach plums, but they will not divulge the location of their secret spots! The Friends of Island Beach State Park volunteers make jelly every year that can be purchased at the annual Beach Plum Festival festival.
The fruit of the beach plum is the hidden treasure of the dunes! In April and May snow white colored flowers emerge before the leaves of beach plum plants do after winter. After the flowers are pollinated, by wind or bees, they turn pink-like and a beach plum fruit begins to develop. The fruit will ripen throughout the summer until they are ready to pick and eat August through September. When fully ripe, they look like miniature plums, ranging from 0.5-1 inch in diameter and coloration varies from a purplish-black-blue to red-yellow.
If you want to look for beach plums, simply look to the left of start of the boardwalk at A2 and come to the Beach Plum Festival to get some beach plum jelly!
When you think of coastal NJ fruits, I bet blueberries and cranberries are what come to mind. However, there is a third delicious fruit that gets much less attention that also thrives in our well drained, low nutrient, and acidic sandy coastal soils – beach plums (Prunus maritima).
I have tried beach plums once fresh off the tree/bush and found the flavor to be quite good. (very much like any plum of course, but with a greater ratio of tart skin to sweet flesh) Based on my impression of that one tasting I planted three beach plum bushes last year. They were 5 gallon sized pots when planted so I am hoping to see fruit from them fairly soon but I don’t know that that means this year.
I had a wild one growing next to my house and never got any good amounts so I have planted two more on each side of it to see if this improves pollination. They seem fickle where I see them growing wild on one street near the ocean, one year full the next year very few on the bushes. I live near a conservation area that is on the ocean with a marsh I’m sure there’s some wild ones growing and may go hunting this year when their flowering to see if I can find some in the wilds. People who make jellies from them are very secretive about the whereabouts of their prized wild bushes.
The caterpillars love them. Thinking could be winter moth caterpillars, but I’m not sure. I give mine a shot of spinosad or BT to rid them of them. I’ve also had aphid on them, but they seem to bounce back pretty well. This grows wild and fruits so it’s a pretty tough bush.
Jesse, I grow them but have not been overly impressed. I started a row of 50 about 5 years ago and am in the process of removing them. In Kansas they just don’t produce the quantities if hoped. They are the size of a dime and have a remarkably excellent flavor. In the right location they could be excellent. Initially one of the universities did a beach plum study and got me excited with their results. It’s got to do with location in my opinion. Kansas will never have a chance of growing beach plums professionally for us they are strictly a novelty.
Thanks for your responses, interesting variety of taste descriptions. I have tried wild bp and remember the astringently full plum flavor. The plants I have are supposedly decended from improved selections, I imagine fruit size and color. Hope to update this thread with some fruit pics someday! If I ever manage to get a real harvest, I would use them in preserves or wine.
Beach Plums – Much more interesting than plums.
FAQ
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