Coco plum, now used as an ornamental hedge, was once a food staple for the Seminole Indians and Ais Tribes. As hunters and gatherers they also gathered sea oats, sea grapes and palm berries. Coco plum is native to coastal areas of Southern Florida, the Bahamas through the Caribbean. It is also found along the coasts of Mexico, through Central America and South America, to Ecuador and Northern Brazil. Due to landscaping practices the plant can be found inland and thrives under direct sun.
I have eaten coco plum many times, it has good water content and about five fruits can keep you full for about an hour and a half. They taste like an extremely bland banana and the skin can have a dry taste similar to the skin of a nut. They are really good chilled and have a rather large pit in relation to the fruit.
Best when fruit is full, firm and at a dark purple almost black color. A word of caution, if you see the coco plum in the wild, it’s probably pretty safe to eat, but in landscape settings you need to be careful because the plant may have recently been treated with pesticide or fungicide.
If you are in a survival situation the coco plum can get you by, however it is not always in season, tends to fruit in early summer. In the wild you can see both green tip and red tip coco plum. In ornamental landscape settings the red tip is used more often.
For low plantings there is now a horizontal coco plum available which is ideal for parking lots as it stays low and does not block a drivers line of sight.
Advanced Botanicals in Loxahatchee Florida has a nice block of about a 1000 horizontal coco plum to choose from.
Related posts:
Loading ...
You mention sea oats were eaten by the Seminoles, but which part of the sea oats plant did they use? According to one of my field guides, Uniola latifolia has edible shoots that can be used like asparagus. Are the seeds of the plant used as well?
I think this Coco plum is different than the “Native plum” offered here in Wyoming. Thank you for the information.
Thanks, Sherry! Great question. I made phone calls to the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum who in turned referred me to the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The native plant specialist at the Ahtahthiki Museum (www.ahtahthiki.com/index.cfm) said we stumped her but I could maybe find the answer in Alice Micco Snow’s book “Healing Plants: Medicine of the Florida Seminole Indians / Edition 1″ (“http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Healing-Plants/Alice-Micco-Snow/e/9780813020624) I found a copy and will review it and get back to you. Also you are right on the the Coco Plum. Do you have the botanical name for the native plum found in Wyoming?
Coco Plum Family Chrysobalanaceae – Cocoa-plum family
Genus Chrysobalanus L. – chrysobalanus
Species Chrysobalanus icaco L. – coco plum
American Plum Rosaceae – Rose family
Genus Prunus L. – plum
Species Prunus americana Marsh. – American plum
Re: Edible Cocoplums. You missed the best part, the nut inside the kernel tastes just like a raw almond. Delicious!
Re: Edible Seaoats. The seeds are edible… barely. You’d expend way more calories gathering them than they’re worth. Famin food.
Ref: ‘Wild Plants for survival In South Florida’ – 1962 – 82- Julia F. Morton
Tony,
Great comments, I do chaw on the seed and enjoy it, your right it does taste a little like an almond. Regarding spending calories gathering seaoats, since they are a protected plant you might burn more calories running away from a citation. But thats a good point. I did some research on the Seminole and Seaoats and I have come to the conclusion that they felt the same as you do. They may have used it to make bread, but thats about it, they mostly cooked around a kettle and the oats down here are so thin they wouldn’t do well simmering in a kettle all day. They only ate when they were hungry, no real set times, so the kettle was going all the time. If you have ever read Totch Brown’s book about living in the Everglades he mentioned when he came upon Seminole camps that they would have a pot of gar and crawfish going most of the time.
Thanks for visiting Open Space Restoration.
Bart
Ref: ‘Wild Plants for survival In South Florida’ – 1962 – 82- Julia F. Morton-I’m going to check it out. Thanks,
Bart
http://www.amazon.com/Totch-Everglades-Loren-G-Brown/dp/0813012287 for Totch Brown’s book a really great read.
thanks again Tony for your comments.