The 4-H Foundation is pleased to welcome the Cape May County Beach Plum Association (CMCBPA) as a key sponsor to this year’s fair. Fair-goers will notice a much larger beach plum presence at the event and have the opportunity to participate in taste testings and purchase a variety of delicious beach plum products.
You may ask, just what is this humble fruit recently named the official fruit of Cape May County by the Board of Chosen Freeholders and currently at the center of so much attention? It is Prunus maritimus, a hardy native shrub found amid the dunes all along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Virginia. The beach plum is prized for its dune retaining and restoring capabilities and its incredible salt and wind tolerance. But, in the last few years, it has emerged as an important new agricultural crop for farmers in Cape May County, one that continues to attract new fans and scientific study. The beach plum is truly a unique fruit, with a sweet but tart flavor probably unlike anything you’ve ever tasted before.
Previously, only the most fortunate coastal dwellers and patrons were intimately familiar with its jewel-toned fruits, which range from deepest purple to cherry red to the rarely stumbled upon yellow. Although not well known to the world at large, it has long been treasured by locals for its delicious jams, jellies and a multitude of scrumptious baked goods since the days that desperate colonists first arrived on our shores.
The beach plum remained relatively undomesticated in an agricultural sense until recently. In the last decade, however, commercial orchards have begun springing up throughout Cape May County. The CMCBPA is dedicated to the promotion and cultivation of the beach plum. The goal of the organization is to support the development of an integrated system for a sustainable beach plum industry in southern New Jersey, boosting agriculture and agritourism alike in the Garden State.
The beach plum association is able to sponsor this year’s fair thanks to a specialty crops grant from the NJ Department of Agriculture. Cape May County Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent Jenny S. Carleo also recently received a grant in the amount of $2,500 from the CMCBPA to conduct a two-year study on pollination of the beach plum to help growers better understand the science of how beach plums are pollinated so that they produce fruit. According to Dave Van Vorst, President of the CMCBPA, “There has never been any research done on the beach plum to determine whether pollination by pollinators is required for fruit set. This study will expand our understanding of beach plum characteristics.”
Visit the association’s tent at the 4-H Fair to celebrate New Jersey’s coastal heritage and savor some beach plum fare. For more information on the beach plum and the association, check out the Cape May County Beach Plum Association’s website at www.cmcbeachplum.com or call (609) 465-5115 ext. 3607.
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