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The elusive—and delicious—beach plum.
There is perhaps no East End edible more local than beach plum jelly. The recipe varies from family to family, with some held as closely as any other valuable heirloom. Cooking up the jelly is a fall tradition dating back many generations.
Gardener, floral designer and beach plum aficionado Elizabeth Yastrzemski recently shared her jelly-making skills with an enthusiastic group of students at the Southampton Historical Museum’s Rogers Mansion in Southampton Village.
One of those students, Diane Howe, was born and raised in Bridgehampton with a grandmother and great-grandmother who both turned out batches of the jelly every year.
“I wish I had thought about it when I was younger,” she said. “It’s an old-time thing, and it was something my grandmother and great-grandmother made, but I never thought to ask how they made it.”
Of course, making the jelly is one thing—finding the key ingredient is something else entirely. “I have an aunt who used to gather the beach plums,” Ms. Howe said. “I’m hoping she’ll pass on her secret location to me.”
Beach plums grow along the shore near ocean and bays, and are virtually unknown outside of Northeast beach communities like the Hamptons and Cape Cod. Like favorite fishing spots, their location is jealously guarded. “People keep it a secret, where they pick,” Ms. Yastrzemski said. “I certainly do. I go by paddleboard to pick mine, and I would never tell someone where I get them.”
Judy Johnson, a fan of Ms. Yastrzemski’s beach plum jelly, said she signed up for the class even though she’s made the jelly herself in the past from an old recipe passed along by a friend. “It’s a major effort, getting the beach plums, and all that … when I saw that each person in the class was going home with two jars of jelly, that was a big incentive.” As for her past plum foraging expeditions: “I’m not going to tell you where I got the plums.”
The prized shrubs, which can grow to a height of 6 feet, were once abundant along local beaches, but as development eats up more and more beachfront property, they get harder to find every year. Now, some fans say they go to Montauk to find them.
They can be cultivated, but the results are often disappointing. “It takes a really long time to grow them, and they don’t seem to grow as well in rich soil,” Ms. Yastrzemski said. “I also think that where they grow adds to the flavor of the fruit.”
Smaller than the common plums they’re related to, beach plums flower in the spring and the fruit comes ripe in the fall. Local lore says the crop is plentiful every other year. This was not a great year for the fruit, despite an abundance of spring blooms. Using a mix of slightly under-ripe and ripe plums helps ensure the jelly will set. The end product has a flavor all its own.
“It’s unique, sort of tart like currant, but different,” Ms. Johnson said. “And it’s such a beautiful, clear, deep red color. It’s a very pretty jelly.”
Harvesting the fruit in the wild is an important part of the ritual, according to Emily Halsey. At 93, she no longer forages for the fruit herself, but remembers, “It was so much fun to go and pick the berries on the beach. It’s a whole experience in itself, and such a fun thing to do. We would make a day of it.”
Ms. Halsey, who grew up in England, learned to make the jelly from her mother-in-law. These days, she still makes it, but relies on Ms. Yastrzemski to supply beach plum juice to start from.
“I haven’t made it yet,” she said shortly before Thanksgiving, “but I have to do it before Christmas. I give it away for Christmas presents. All my kids and grandkids like it; they look forward to having it each year.”
So far, none of her family members have shown an interest in making it themselves, but she is hoping to enlist her granddaughter to help cook this year’s jelly, and maybe pass along the tradition. “I hope at least one of my grandchildren will carry it on,” she said. “I’m afraid people won’t even know what beach plums are eventually; they won’t even bother with them.”
But at least for this holiday season, fans of the process and the product are keeping the tradition alive. For those without their own secret beach plum picking spot, Ms. Yastrzemski’s jelly is available for purchase at Herrick’s Hardware Store in Southampton or Holly Hill farm stand in Water Mill.
on Dec 1, 2016