Life is a beach (plum)...Yesterday, I helped harvest a bunch of beach plums (
Prunus maritima).
Unless you are well versed in the prose of Vladimir Nabokov, you are likely wondering what they heck a beach plum is (or as he called it, a beech plum).
Cornell has the largest collection of them in the world, although that isn't really saying too much as it is a pretty obscure fruit; it is like that lady in Missouri who has the world's largest collection of creamhorn molds. Beach plum is native to the eastern coast of the US, from New Hampshire down to Maryland, and the Cornell repository represents populations from throughout this range. On Cape Cod, beach plum is harvested (mostly from the wild) and made into preserves and jams. The tourists love 'em.
The fruits are small, about a half-an-inch in diameter, and usually on the tart side even when fully ripe. However some bushes out in the field produce fruits that are VERY sweet. Part of Cornell's program is to evaluate the genetic diversity within these (and other) traits, and select genotypes that are consistant, high yielders. To date, nobody has ever done any selection; this is the first step.
One set of traits that I think would be great to select for is color variation. Usually, the fruits are purplish-blue, yet there are some bushes out in the field that produce cherry-red or even pinkish-yellow berries when ripe. Yesterday, we bulked everything together, as we didnt have time to sort them. But, it would be great to sort them separately in the future and have different colors of jams. Those would be great selling points!
Or, I have a better idea...
Prunus maritima is similar to a European species,
Prunus spinosa, which is what sloe gin is made from. Why not distill beach plums? I bet it would be quite tasty, and a heck of a lot better return!
