Oceanside Forage

[Will Gilmore]

When I was a lad of 14, my family and I sailed to Maine and the Old Man took a position as a watch officer with Hurricane Island Outward Bound, for the Summer. They had a little publication, authored by Euell Gibbons, that identified wild edible plants that grew on the coast of Maine. I learned about plants like Goose Tongue and Beach Peas.

My wife and I now make our living foraging for berries and other edible plants to make jellies and jams, simple syrup drink mixers and Elderberry syrup, to sell at farmer's markets and craft fairs

Among the variety of jellies and jams, we make Plum, made from both the Plum trees we cultivate and a large wild stand of Prunus Americana. It is delicious. At our last few markets, people have been telling us about Beach Plums, Prunus Maritima. We are going to have to take a foraging trip to the coast.

I was thinking, with cruising sailors, there is a strong streak of self-sufficiency and gathering wild edible where you travel has a great deal of appeal. Full disclosure, of you tell me about a new plant or place to forage, I will probably try to make something I can sell.

I'd love to hear about your experiences.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[markwbird]

I did the Outward Bound sailing School at Hurricane Island in 1982. I do not recall this, though.

 

[rgranger]

In my back yard in Virgina was a tall (by east coast standards) mountain called Tobacco Row. At the very top was a stand of huckleberries that I would pinch every chance I got.

And of course blackberries and raspberries are ubiquitous in VA.

 

[Justin_NSA]

We have a Mulberry tree behind the garage. I've heard they are good eating. The birds sure like them. Purple droppings everywhere in the Spring. We also planted a Serviceberry tree. The birds devour every last berry.

 

[rgranger]

I've heard they are good eating.

WHAT!

Say it aint so... You have never eaten a mulberry?

 

[rgranger]

@Will Gilmore I forgot to add wild persimmons to the VA list of yummies. I also had a few pawpaws in my yard. Also yummy.

 

[Will Gilmore]

WHAT!

Say it aint so... You have never eaten a mulberry?

I discovered a mulberry bush outside my junior high school, in Florida. Boy was I redfaced, when my teachers caught me.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Will Gilmore]

I did the Outward Bound sailing School at Hurricane Island in 1982. I do not recall this, though.

I was there in '77, I think, the same year the first Star Wars movie came out.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[TomY]

When I was a lad of 14, my family and I sailed to Maine and the Old Man took a position as a watch officer with Hurricane Island Outward Bound, for the Summer. They had a little publication, authored by Euell Gibbons, that identified wild edible plants that grew on the coast of Maine. I learned about plants like Goose Tongue and Beach Peas.

My wife and I now make our living foraging for berries and other edible plants to make jellies and jams, simple syrup drink mixers and Elderberry syrup, to sell at farmer's markets and craft fairs
View attachment 186288

Among the variety of jellies and jams, we make Plum, made from both the Plum trees we cultivate and a large wild stand of Prunus Americana. It is delicious. At our last few markets, people have been telling us about Beach Plums, Prunus Maritima. We are going to have to take a foraging trip to the coast.

I was thinking, with cruising sailors, there is a strong streak of self-sufficiency and gathering wild edible where you travel has a great deal of appeal. Full disclosure, of you tell me about a new plant or place to forage, I will probably try to make something I can sell.

I'd love to hear about your experiences.

-Will (Dragonfly)

Beach plums? Can you find them on my coast, Will?

Our heavy foraging over the years has been wild berries, especially on the Maine islands. These mostly arid islands seem to be the perfect habitat for black berries, raspberries (red and black) and wild blue berries. The only problem is timing. Nine out of ten times you find them just about ready to ripen or just past ripe which means they're gone, mostly by birds and an occasional 2 legged picker.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Beach plums? Can you find them on my coast, Will?

I was going to ask you if you knew of any patches. From what I've read, they grow on the NE coast up to Canada.
Prunus maritima - Wikipedia
"Prunus maritima, the beach plum,[2] is a species of plum native to the East Coast of the United States, from Maine south to Maryland.[3][4] Although sometimes listed as extending to New Brunswick, the species is not known from collections there, and does not appear in the most authoritative works on the flora of that Canadian province.[5]"
However, other sources say, "Today, you will not find beach plums along the Hudson, but they can still be found in the US from Massachusetts down to Virginia in undeveloped coastal dune areas."

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[TomY]

I was going to ask you if you knew of any patches. From what I've read, they grow on the NE coast up to Canada.
Prunus maritima - Wikipedia
"Prunus maritima, the beach plum,[2] is a species of plum native to the East Coast of the United States, from Maine south to Maryland.[3][4] Although sometimes listed as extending to New Brunswick, the species is not known from collections there, and does not appear in the most authoritative works on the flora of that Canadian province.[5]"
However, other sources say, "Today, you will not find beach plums along the Hudson, but they can still be found in the US from Massachusetts down to Virginia in undeveloped coastal dune areas."

-Will (Dragonfly)

Oh man, we know a good plum when we see one. If we found such a tree in our cruising, we'd have put barbed wire around it.

You have experience: we have an Italian plum tree by our side door at home. It gave us massive fruit the last few years. This year, quite a few plums developed but they all fell off long before they ripened. Discouraging because we always have some wonderful pies from that tree.

 

[srimes]

We have a Mulberry tree behind the garage. I've heard they are good eating. The birds sure like them. Purple droppings everywhere in the Spring. We also planted a Serviceberry tree. The birds devour every last berry.

Mulberries are one of my favorites! Had them all over in Arkansas, usually spotted by the purple sidewalks under them. Had a lovely surprise halfway around the world walking through Jerusalem and found a nice Mulberry tree with ripe berries! Made a refreshing snack.

 

[Will Gilmore]

I looked it up and it turns out, mulberry trees are quite cold hardy. We may be planting mulberries next Spring.
Mo’ Mulberry – The Essential Guide to All You Need to Know About Mulberry - The Permaculture Research Institute
-32C (-26F)

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[rgranger]

I looked it up and it turns out, mulberry trees are quite cold hardy. We may be planting mulberries next Spring.
Mo’ Mulberry – The Essential Guide to All You Need to Know About Mulberry - The Permaculture Research Institute
-32C (-26F)

-Will (Dragonfly)

Just don't plant them close to the drive way...

 

[jssailem]

Toxicity: All parts of white mulberry, except for the ripe fruit, contain a milky sap (latex) that is toxic to humans. Although humans may consume ripe mulberry fruit, ingestion of unripe fruit can result in stomach upset, stimulation of the nervous system and hallucinations.

Foraging is a bit of an art form. A gastronomic adventure. Just don’t be too adventurous.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Toxicity: All parts of white mulberry, except for the ripe fruit, contain a milky sap (latex) that is toxic to humans. Although humans may consume ripe mulberry fruit, ingestion of unripe fruit can result in stomach upset, stimulation of the nervous system and hallucinations.

Foraging is a bit of an art form. A gastronomic adventure. Just don’t be too adventurous.

So I've read. White Mulberry is the most Winter hardy, but red and black mulberry strains have been developed to also do well in Northern climes.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[jssailem]

Need to check on the environment out here. I have not seen any Mulberry bushes on the PacificNW coast.

 

[jssailem]

What with our dark skies (its 7:30 and the sun is not even at first light) and the frost on the pumpkins, all of our cane crops are long gone. Now there are but a few apples left on the tree (late ripening), and a few shrooms to be found. It is time to go inside and make bread.

 

[sailnoproblem]

I was going to ask you if you knew of any patches. From what I've read, they grow on the NE coast up to Canada.
Prunus maritima - Wikipedia
"Prunus maritima, the beach plum,[2] is a species of plum native to the East Coast of the United States, from Maine south to Maryland.[3][4] Although sometimes listed as extending to New Brunswick, the species is not known from collections there, and does not appear in the most authoritative works on the flora of that Canadian province.[5]"
However, other sources say, "Today, you will not find beach plums along the Hudson, but they can still be found in the US from Massachusetts down to Virginia in undeveloped coastal dune areas."

-Will (Dragonfly)

You can find them at Island Beach State Park on the Jersey shore. Every year they have a Beach Plum festival I believe it’s late September. But of course this year I don’t believe it happened for obvious reasons.

 

[Will Gilmore]

I've been vacationing with my wife, Linda, in Puerto Rico. We joined my son, Kyllan, and his girlfriend who are both on a working vacation, so Linda and I are on our own most of the days.

Puerto Rico is a forager's paradise. If you are without money or a job, you will never starve in Puerto Rico.

The spiky fruit is soursop, you probably recognize the coconut on the left, the two little yellow fruit are guava, to the right of two almost ripe star fruit. The little bananas have a long way to go until ripe, but the 5 round bumpy green avocados are pretty ready. The three gourds on the left are just neat, so we picked them up and We haven't figured out what that yellow squash-like fruit is with its enormous seeds, paw paw maybe?

What I'm not showing is the beautiful breadfruit we picked up and fried under the broiler and also added to guacamole. It tasted like a cantaloupe has been mixed with briè, delicious.

The star fruit is light and citrusy.

We have been experimenting, with happy results.

-Will (Dragonfly)