Foraging Sea Buckthorn on Coastal Dunes

Where Sea Buckthorn Grows on the British Coast

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is one of the great rewards of a late-autumn walk on the coast. Look for it on stable sand dunes, just behind the first ridge of marram grass, along the edges of dune slacks, and on sandy cliff tops where salt spray reaches. It is a plant of the strandline fringe, happiest where the wind is biting and the soil is thin and lime-rich.

In Britain you will find good stands along the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coasts, in the dune systems of Northumberland and East Lothian, around the Moray Firth, and on the Welsh coast from Anglesey down to Pembrokeshire. Some of the largest thickets occur on the Sefton coast and in parts of East Anglia. It suckers freely and forms dense, sprawling colonies, so where you find one bush you will usually find a great many more.

Identifying the Plant and Its Berries

In winter the twigs are silvery and bare, but from spring through to leaf fall the plant is unmistakable. The leaves are narrow, willow-like and covered in fine silvery scales, giving the whole bush a ghostly grey-green shimmer in the wind. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants, so only the female bushes carry fruit.

From late August the berries begin to colour. They are small, oval and packed tightly along the stems like strings of orange beads. By October they are a deep, luminous orange, sometimes red-tinged, and they stay on the bush well into winter. The bush itself is fiercely thorny, with long, sharp spines hidden among the leaves. Before you reach in, look twice and put on proper gloves.

When and How to Harvest

Sea buckthorn is at its best from late September through November. Frost improves it, softening the skins and helping the juice to run, but you need not wait for it. The berries cling stubbornly and burst easily, and the juice stains cloth and fingernails a lasting orange, so dress accordingly.

There are three reliable approaches:

• The branch method. Cut a few fruiting branches with secateurs, lay them in a bucket and freeze them overnight at home. The berries then shake off cleanly into the bucket with almost no effort.
• The gloved strip. Wearing thick rubber or leather gloves, run your hand firmly along a branch and let the berries fall into a tub held beneath. It is fast but messy.
• The comb. A wide-toothed fork or a small rake drawn gently down the stem will knock berries loose without crushing them. Work over a deep container, as the fruit scatters.

Whichever method you use, keep the harvest small. Take a handful from many bushes rather than stripping one bare, and never snap off more branch than you need.

Foraging Responsibly

Sea buckthorn is a keystone plant on our dunes. Its roots bind the sand, and its berries feed wintering thrushes, redwings and fieldfares when little else is available. Treat every thicket as though the birds got there first, because they did.

On private land, always seek the landowner's permission before picking. On Countryside and Rights of Way access land you may walk freely, but picking fruit is a grey area at best; on nature reserves, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and National Trust land, local byelaws often prohibit it outright. Check before you go, and if in doubt, leave it. Never dig up plants, never break large branches, and avoid trampling the fragile lichen and moss communities between the bushes.

A few further cautions: do not forage beside busy roads, on land used by dogs, or anywhere that might have been sprayed. Give the berries a brief rinse at home and pick over them for insects and grit.

Using the Juice: Simple Kitchen Ideas

Raw sea buckthorn is startlingly sharp — citrusy, resinous and mouth-puckering. Most people find it too assertive to eat by the handful, which is exactly why it works so well as a flavouring. The trick is to extract the juice rather than crush the whole fruit, since the seeds carry a slightly oily bitterness.

Freeze the berries, then thaw them in a bowl and mash roughly with a potato masher. Tip the pulp into a muslin bag or a double layer of cheesecloth set over a jug, and leave it to drip overnight. Do not squeeze hard; let gravity do the work and you will have a clear, brilliant juice.

• Cordial. Warm the juice gently with an equal volume of sugar until dissolved, bottle, and dilute to taste with still or sparkling water.
• Jelly. Combine with crab apple or windfall apple for set and body, then strain and pot as normal.
• Sauce. Simmer with a little honey and a pinch of salt to spoon over mackerel, salmon or roast game.
• Everyday uses. Swirl a spoonful through yoghurt, whisk into a vinaigrette, or add a dash to a gin and tonic.

Any berries you cannot process straight away will keep perfectly in the freezer for a year or more. A morning on the dunes in October, and a small jar of bright orange cordial in the cupboard in February, is a fine trade indeed.