North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dylan Ford" <dford@suffolk.lib.ny.us>]

Jim,

I'm no expert but I have eaten a lot of beach plum jelly in my life and it
is delicious and the color is great. When I was a kid my Grandmother had a
friend with a boat who went picking every year at Fire Island and would
bring her a load (no bridge back then.). I remember Grandma saying the jam
required a lot of sugar because the fruits were sour. But in the years since
I have encountered wild beach plum patches on the cliffs at Montauk Point
that bore fruit that was sweet and delicious right off the bush - really
good, so I suspect there may be a range of flavors.

They thrive in pure sand in maritime settings, but a friend tried growing
them in his yard and though his flowered they never bore fruit - might well
have been a pollination or sunlight issue. I tried absentee growing a couple
upstate in rocky clay on a steep hillside and they didn't thrive, though
they hung on, (and I wasn't there to tend to them either - I think they
would have done better with some TLC, protection,  and maintenance). The
deer seemed quite satisfied with the flavor of the foliage, and the bushes
were finally barked to death one winter by smaller saboteurs.

I hope to go out east to Montauk and collect seed for my shelterbelt idea
this fall. If I can re-find those sweet ones and you want to also try some
from scratch let me know. Its been years and Montauk has grown a lot, so
they may no longer be extant.

A patch of beach plums in full white flower is a lovely thing.  dylan



Dylan Ford is the author of the proposal at www.ideaforpresident.com , a
website devoted to an idea that could provide an avenue to address pollution
issues, food safety, social justice, prison reform and healthcare.



>    I half recall a thread about growing Beach Plum (Prunus maratima) but I
> don't remember comments about flavor.  Beach Plum is another suggestion
I've
> received to use for making jelly.  Hartmann's Nursery has it in their
> catalog this year.  What do you think?  Do you think customers would buy
> Beach Plum jelly a second time?
> -- 
>
> Jim Fruth