9.09.2010

The Local Food Report: Beach plum jelly—and jam

Some people go a bit nutty over beach plums. Like Alex's grandmother—three years ago, when we had the big year, she made over 250 jars of beach plum jelly. This year, she's already up to 192.


Len Campanelli got sucked in last year, and this year, for his stand at the Provincetown Farmers' Market, he's made hundreds of jars. He kind of wishes he had never heard of beach plums some days—making the jelly is a hellish process, he says—but he can't stop. The picking, the boiling, the straining—it's a labor of love. He picks from where he lives in South Dennis all the way out to Provincetown, tasting and refining which berries he takes along the way. A good plum is small and dark, he says, sort of like a big blueberry.

He doesn't let a single bit of the fruit go to waste—after he's strained off the juice for jelly, he pushes the pulp through a colander to make jam. The jam doesn't need quite so much sugar, he says, and it's a bit thicker, which means it takes less time on the stove. The jelly can take up to a week of on and off simmering—turning the burner on low when he's home.


When it comes down to it, it's the tradition of beach plum jelly that keeps him on. The fruit is an indigenous, native plant—Prunus maritima—and preserving it is a way of letting visitors take a little piece of this sandy land home. It's a tradition of remembering—of tucking away those last, short days of Indian summer—to hold on to until next time rolls around.

[If you're into preserves, Alex's grandmother's recipe for beach plum jelly is over here, and I'm posting another one for beach plum jam below. If you're not, there are other options: there's a list of stands and farms and markets that sell beach plum jelly over here.]

BEACH PLUM JAM

This recipe comes from a little cookbook devoted entirely to beach plums—Plum Crazy by Elizabeth Post Mirel. Beach plum jam can be a bit more work than beach plum jelly, but if you tend to like thicker, more robust spreads, you will find there's an excellent reward for your work.

2 cups pitted beach plums
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup orange juice

Cut the beach plums into small pieces. Place the ingredients in a large, non-reactive pot, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the fruit is soft and the liquid is the consistency of a thin syrup. Stir occasionally.

Pour the jam into sterile jars. Seal and leave overnight to cool; the jelly will keep up to a year.

Yield: About 2 cups.

3 comments :

Kale Crusaders said...

Awesome recipe. I Googled beach plum, thinking it would be a great pun for a beach bum cartoon and stumbled upon your recipe. Thanks for the inspiration!

If you are interested, here's the final product of the pun: http://www.kalecrusaders.com/2012/03/plum.html

Felice Reynolds said...

Gonna make sandwiches out of these for our beach party! This one is particularly exciting for me since I just had a lasik surgery a few months back and now, I'm gonna enjoy swimming without the hassle of putting lenses on. Cheers!

Legal Translation Company in Dubai said...

Your website is really cool and this is a great inspiring Website
English to Greek Translation in Dubai
Human Rights Translation Dubai
Accounting translation Dubai
cheapest documents translation services near me
Arab Official Gazette Online
Women's Rights Translation Dubai

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
All text, photographs, and other original material copyright 2008-2010 by Elspeth Hay unless otherwise noted.