I found beach plum jelly!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I love beach plum jelly; it’s definitely my favorite. It tastes grapey, but without the heaviness of grape jelly, and with a tartness you don’t find elsewhere.

I used to have it as a kid. Beach plums grown in sand dunes near salt water on the northeast coast of the US; they aren’t cultivated successfully. So you had to go to the dunes, find the plants and harvest them.

Several years ago, our local supermarket had it in stock and it was by favorite jelly (actually, the only one I ate regularly). The stopped carrying it about three years ago; when I looked up the manufacturer online, they said they had stopped making it (much of the habitat has been turned into oceanview housing).

I finally found a mail order place that sold it and ordered some. The next time I went back, they had stopped carrying it.:frowning:

We found one more jar in a gift shop on Long Island, but they never had it again. :frowning:

The Christmas Tree Shop had some – only it was fake. Some beach plum, but mostly regular plum. OK, but not the same thing. :dubious:

Yesterday, we tried a new farm stand. I always look at the jelly collection (and have never seen it), but this time I hit the jackpot (and just after I had used up my last jar of the real stuff!).

So now I’m set for a little while. Mmmmmmm.:smiley:

2

It sounds good! And congratulations on finding something you love. /did you ask the folks with the stand where they harvest their plums?

I live in NE Kansas and have difficulty in finding fresh Concord grapes. I use them to make grape pie but have not had any in three years.

3

I find it frustrating that in Nwingland, I can get thirty kinds each of strawberry and grape jam/jelly/preserve, and a cheerfully weird mix of things like “triple berry” jam and oddball fruit ones… but I have to mail-order boysenberry jam.

4

Beach plums don’t need beach environments for successful cropping. And you can find varieties to grow yourself online.

The fact that they (and their jelly) are apparently hard to come by in stores may have more to do with changing tastes and availability of many other stone fruits.

5

It’s something that’s possible, but very few people do it (note that web page is a pilot project).

It’s always been hard to find commercially and it’s unknown outside of New England. Olde Cape Cod used to make it, but they haven’t for years. There was a mail order place that had it, but no longer. And my last jar was locally made on eastern Long Island.

The jelly was one of those typical “country store” brands: named for the store, but manufactured elsewhere.

6

Never had it, but I’ve heard it’s quite a delicacy.

Doesn’t this also belong in Cafe Society?

7

I’d never heard of it but it sounds delicious. Congrats on finding some!