Beach Plums

My mother was a "South Jersey girl." She was born and raised in New Jersey until she met and married my father and forever after lived near Philadelphia (his hometown).

We grew up always knowing about beach plum jelly. The beach plum is a shrub that grows along the seashore from Maine to Delaware.  Mom picked the little sweet plums and made her own jelly. The plums were cooked and then strained in a cheesecloth which was tied to a cabinet and hung over a bowl to gather the juice for the jelly. Mom always made her jelly with the paraffin wax over the top before sealing it. I don't usually see canning done this way anymore.

We can buy local beach plum jelly at the farmers market by a lady who picks the plums herself in the sand dunes along the seashore. Today I was at the Lewes Farmers Market and she had a large container of the plums. She said she had not picked these, but purchased them from another vendor who grew cultivated beach plums. She will use these when she runs out of her wild plums.

For more information on this delicious little plum, read http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/BeachPlums.html

Thanks for stopping by - come back again!

Violetlady
xo