Beach Plum: A Resilient Native Shrub for Flowers, Fruit, and Gin
Beachcombers and shoreline foragers on the East Coast will know the anticipation of August in the dunelands. The small native plums are ripening in the lee of old dunes and may be ready to pick.
Photos by Marie Viljoen
Beach plums ripening in August in near Jamaica Bay, New York. Further inland they may occur on sandy coastal barrens.
Cool, wet springs may affect pollination and result in lower fruit yield. Their saline tolerance suits them to landscaping where road salt may affect soil quality.
Shoreline shrubs tend to be low-growing, naturally bonsai-ed by wind and poor soil.
Beach plums are not self-fertile, so a minimum of two shrubs are required for cross-pollination. If you are out foraging for them, taste a couple from a shrub before filling your bag with insipid fruit.
Beach plums in rainbow shades—all ripe. As the plums heat they burst and cook in their own juices.
Red-wine poached beach plums atop pork rillettes.
Pits-and-Pulp beach plum gin, with tonic and grapefruit peel.
Beach Plumzu—2 oz gin, 1 oz Bayberry Beach Plum Gin, 2 tsps yuja-cheong.
Foraged beach plums, ready for gin.
Beach Plum Gin with Bayberry
Adapted from Forage, Harvest, Feast – A Wild-Inspired Cuisine. Turn off the heat and allow the fruit to cool. (The leftover, soaked fruit can be worked through a food mill to extract the pits before being: Cooked into jam, made into chutney, spread onto sandwiches, or churned into ice cream.