What’s a Beach Plum? Maybe the Next Fruit You’ll Fall in Love with

It’s always a lovely thing to learn about a new fruit, particularly something local, easy-to-grow, and versatile. In comes the beach plum.

Officially known as the Prunus maritima, the beach plum is a native variety of plum (Prunus) that tends to pop up in coastal locations (maritima). Its natural landscape is dunes where it can appear more shrub than tree-like, often partially buried in wind-swept sands.

The fruit itself is smaller than a typical plum, more cherry-sized (also in the Prunus genus), but the flavor ranges from plum to plum-grape. Some varieties are tasty and fresh, but the most common way to enjoy beach plums is in preserves. It’s also becoming common in wine.

With all that in mind, it’s time to dig a bit deeper into beach plums, including what the plants are like, where to get them, and how to grow them. Beach plums are a great addition to backyard orchards and edible landscapes.

Source: Northeast Edible/YouTube

Beach Plum, Plant Stats

As with many other fruits like apples, peaches, and pears, beach plums are a member of the commercially viable rose family of plants. They are woody perennial plants that put on a great floral display in late spring, show off colorful fruit in late summer, and provide rich autumn foliage in the fall. In other words, they are a winner of a tree/shrub.

They have an added advantage in that they grow in colder regions along the US East Coast. They are hardy up to USDA Zone 3, growing wild and prolifically in states like New Jersey and Massachusetts. They love the seashore and are considered salt- and drought-tolerant plants due to the probing taproot system that forms in sandy soils.

Beach plum plants stay relatively small, a little less than ten feet tall and wide, but they spread by underground suckers and can quickly form dense thickets. While it can be trained to grow as a tree, its natural tendency is to form a shrub. It’s great for erosion control.

Source: Fare Isle/YouTube

Beach Plum, the Cultivar

One of the beauties of growing beach plums, aside from the showy flowers, fruit, and foliage (who cares about that stuff, really), is that they are easily accommodated. Though they grow naturally in sandy soil with low nutrients, they thrive in garden soil with a bit of richness.

As with the vast majority of fruit trees, they like full-sun exposure and well-drained soil. They do not need irrigation and aren’t as prone to problems as non-native species. And, they are amenable to colder climates with the potential to reach down into cooler southern states like the Carolinas and Tennessee.

Because beach plums multiply via underground runners, they can make marvelous hedges or components to mixed-plant hedgerows. They’ll function great living fencing with the benefit of being beautiful and edible.

Wild beach plums can vary in flavor, but some notable cultivars have been developed, including “Autumn”, “Stearns”, “Northneck”, and “Squibnocket”. They are available at garden centers and online plant outlets.

Source: Ockoo Farm/YouTube

Beach Plum, a Fruit

Beach plums are small drupes similarly sized to cherries but with the flavor of plums. They are ready to be harvested in late summer, around the end of August. Fresh beach plums are edible, but the fruits are more often used for products.

There are some commercial producers of beach plums, usually grown to produce jams and jellies. A few producers are experimenting with beach plums as wine. But, many people who enjoy the fruit forage it along the Atlantic Coast of New England, or they grow beach plums at home.

A basic beach plum jam gets four parts plums to four parts sugar to one part red wine. Simmer the ingredients together for a few minutes before pulling and straining away the stones and skin from the plums. Simmer the remaining plum juice and flesh in the mixture for another 25 minutes or more. When it’s thick enough (check by cooling it quickly on a freezer-cold plate), then it’s done.

That’s the Beach Plum

This native North American plant was once a staple food source for Native Americans and then colonialists. Now, with edible landscaping and permaculture on the rise, it’s experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Why wouldn’t it?

Related Content:

• 10 Unconventional Fruit Trees for the Backyard Orchard
• Kakadu Plums: The Superfood Known to Have the Highest Vitamin C Content of Any Fruit
• All About Plum Trees: Often Overlooked but Always Enjoyed
• 5 Jams and Jellies That Aren’t Fruity
• Why Fruit Purees are a Better Choice than Making Jams

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