Foraging Sea Buckthorn on the British Coast

A Bright Find on the Winter Coast

There are few sights more cheering on a blustery November walk than a clump of sea buckthorn loaded with berries. The fruit glows a vivid, almost unnatural orange against grey dunes and khaki marram grass, and in a poor light it looks as though someone has strung tiny lanterns through the branches. Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is a native shrub of our coastal fringes, and once you learn to spot it you will find it along huge stretches of the British shoreline.

It is a plant that rewards a little effort and punishes carelessness in roughly equal measure. The berries are extraordinarily sour, faintly tropical and rich in vitamin C, but they cling to thorny branches with the tenacity of limpets. Pick them well and you will have the makings of a sharp, vivid juice that lifts a glass of sparkling water, a sauce for oily fish, or a preserve that tastes like bottled sunshine. Pick them badly and you will spend the evening with tweezers.

Where to Look and When to Go

Sea buckthorn is a plant of sandy coastal soils. Look for it on fixed dunes, behind the first ridge of marram grass, on shingle banks and along estuary edges. It is especially plentiful on the east coast of England, along parts of the Scottish coast, in Wales and on the dune systems of Lancashire, Merseyside and East Anglia. The shrubs form dense, thickety stands, often with silvery-green narrow leaves and a stiff, upright habit.

Timing matters more than most foragers realise. The berries ripen from late August into October, but they often stay on the bush well into December and even January. Frost softens them slightly and reduces the astringency a little, so many coastal pickers wait until the first cold snap. That said, birds are fond of them too, so if you leave it too late you may find the best bushes stripped. Aim for late October through to early December for the sweetest balance of flavour and abundance.

• Female plants carry the fruit; males nearby are needed for pollination but bear none.
• Berries grow in tight clusters close to the stem, wrapped around vicious thorns.
• The fruit is firm and orange when ripe, becoming softer and more translucent after frost.
• Avoid bushes growing right on the strandline, where salt spray and dog walkers are heaviest.

How to Pick Without Losing Blood

The thorns are the real obstacle. They are long, sharp and arranged so that a careless grab will find the tender part of your hand every time. The traditional method, used in Scandinavia and the Baltics for generations, is to cut whole fruiting branches rather than pick individual berries. Snip a short length of branch with berries attached, drop it into a bucket or bag, and deal with it at home. The plant tolerates this well if you take only a little from each bush and never strip a stand bare.

If you would rather leave the plant intact, try the freezing trick. On a genuinely frosty morning, lay a clean sheet or tarpaulin under the bush and gently shake or tap the branches. Frozen berries drop readily and the thorns become a minor nuisance rather than a hazard. Work quickly, before the sun softens the fruit and it clings again.

Wear gloves — leather gardening gloves are ideal — and a long-sleeved jacket. Take secateurs, a sturdy bucket and a few old newspaper sheets for the boot of the car. Sea buckthorn juice stains fabric, so avoid your best coat and do not lean your bag against the bush. Always leave plenty of berries for the fieldfares, redwings and blackbirds that depend on them through the winter.

Getting the Juice Out

At home, the branch method is straightforward. Sit down with the cut stems over a large bowl and strip the berries with a gloved hand or a fork, pulling downwards away from your body. Small stems and stray leaves will come too; pick them out as you go. Rinse the fruit in a colander and discard anything shrivelled or mouldy.

Sea buckthorn is very juicy, and the simplest way to extract it is to warm the berries gently in a pan with a splash of water, mashing them as they soften, then strain through a jelly bag or a double layer of muslin. Do not boil hard, or you will lose some of the delicate, almost passionfruit-like aroma. The resulting juice is intensely sour and will keep in the fridge for a few days, or freeze it in ice-cube trays for months.

A word of caution: the seeds inside each berry are hard and slightly oily, and crushing them gives a bitterness you probably do not want. Press rather than pulverise, and let gravity do most of the work.

Recipes for Sauces, Drinks and Preserves

The sharpness that makes sea buckthorn tricky to eat raw is exactly what makes it useful in the kitchen. It cuts through richness beautifully.

• Sea buckthorn sauce for mackerel or salmon: warm 200 ml of juice with two tablespoons of honey and a grated piece of fresh ginger. Simmer for five minutes, then whisk in a small knob of butter off the heat. Serve warm, not hot.
• Hedgerow cordial: combine 500 ml of juice with 500 g of sugar and the zest of a lemon. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves, bottle in sterilised bottles and dilute to taste with still or sparkling water.
• Sea buckthorn and apple jelly: simmer 1 kg of chopped crab apples or sharp eating apples with 300 ml of juice and enough water to cover. Strain overnight, then boil the liquid with 450 g of sugar per 600 ml until it sets on a cold saucer. Pot into warm sterilised jars.
• Vodka infusion: fill a jar with berries, cover with a decent vodka, seal and shake daily for a fortnight. Strain, sweeten lightly if you wish, and sip neat in small glasses.

Honey and sea buckthorn are natural partners, as are orange zest, thyme, rosemary and a little chilli. Wherever you would use lemon juice for lift, sea buckthorn will do the job with more colour and a wilder edge.

Foraging Well and Staying Safe

Only pick where you have permission, and never on Sites of Special Scientific Interest or protected dune systems where removal of plant material is prohibited. Keep off fragile vegetation, park considerately and take all your litter home. If you are unsure of your identification, leave the berries alone — sea buckthorn is distinctive, but a good field guide or a walk with an experienced forager is worth the time.

Sea buckthorn is best treated as a bright, seasonal gift rather than a bulk crop. A couple of kilos will give you enough juice for a winter's worth of sauces, cordials and one or two jars of gleaming amber jelly. The pleasure is as much in the walk as the harvest: cold air, wheeling waders, and a bucket of berries glowing like embers against the grey sea.