Autumn Olive Jam

I was surprised that there's really only one recipe for Autumn Olive Jam floating around on the internet. While the recipe from Dreams and Bones is perfectly fine, I didn't have no-sugar-added pectin on hand and I didn't want to make a run to the store just for that. Therefore, my Autumn Olive Jam is based on the Ball recipe for berry jams (5 cups of mashed fruit with 7 cups of sugar and regular powdered pectin).

First I washed and drained the berries. Then I cooked approximately 9 cups of berries with one cup water for about 5 minutes (or until mushy). 

This glop was run through my squeezo (see it in action here, or here) to remove the seeds and twigs. I only have the apple/tomato screen that came with the food mill and the sizeable Autumn Olive seeds were pushing it to the limit, but it still worked (eventually).

The seeds were incredibly clean after only one pass through the machine. Usually I run stuff through three or four times before this happens (must be the big seeds).

I think the color and texture may be a little off-putting (it kinds of looks like ketchup, or congealed blood), but it tastes good (tart and somewhat unique).  It's definitely a novelty jam, but I think some of my like-minded friends will appreciate a jar.

Foraging for Autumn Olive

I love foraging for free food, so I was intrigued when a friend mention that he had recently tried Autumn Olive berries. After a quick internet search (to learn how to i.d. the plants) I went to one of my favorite foraging locations to hunt down some free fruit.

Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) happens to be non-native invasive species that was planted in the U.S. for erosion control and sometimes as forage for wildlife. It also happens to contain many times more lycopene than tomatoes. I didn't have a camera with me while foraging, but the leaves are metallic silver on the underside, making them fairly easy to identify. The berries also have little silver/gray scales on them when ripe, which helps distinguish them for all the other reddish berries out there in the fall.

I picked a little over a gallon, which took FOREVER! The majority of the Autumn Olive plants that I had found had a sparse sprinkling of berries...and I didn't know any better to look for better plants. It wasn't until I was almost ready to head home that I found the mother-load of berries on a tree that was smothered in them. All I had to do was put the branch inside my bag and strip the fruit of the branch.

Keeping Up With My Speed-Of-Light Life

I've been up to all kinds of gardening and cooking-related mischief late last week and over this weekend! Hopefully I'll have time to write about it all soon.

In the meantime, here's a quick rundown of what I've been doing and making:

• Acted as a tomato matchmaker (I can't wait to share this with you)
• Foraged for about 9 pounds of wild black raspberries (and I have the scratches to prove it)
• Scouted out some potential wild grape foraging locations
• Pitted cherries (I don't even want to know how many more pounds I have done)
• Made both black-raspberry and black-cherry vinegar
• Made both black-raspberry and black-cherry shrub
• Made both black-raspberry and black-cherry jam
• Made both black-raspberry apple and black-cherry apple crumble (can you guess what I'm overloaded with?)
• Made a yummy garden cucumber salad
• Collected an egg that I highly suspect to be a double-yolker (we'll see)
• Started hand pollinating my hard-shelled gourds (it's a nightly ritual)
• Ate the first fava bean of my life (and I don't appear to suffer from favism)
• Got a great idea for a new blog (that may or may not come to fruition)