Autumn Olive Berries

[Michael J. Spangler]

Anyone harvesting these right now?
I picked about 2.5 gallons over the last couple days and I’m wondering if anyone has any good recipes. I’m planning on making jam with all of them as of right now.

[Shawlerbrook]

https://ouroneacrefarm.com/2014/09/13/autumn-olive-jam/

[webfoot10]

I use them for making wine. Makes into a nice table wine, but it's an aquired taste.

[Michael J. Spangler]

I use them for making wine. Makes into a nice table wine, but it's an aquired taste.

Ohhh nice. Do you have a recipe?

[JBinMN]

My mind is on digging "the root", or as some say, "sang", as well as scouting for our deer hunting.

You have good times though!


Looks like something else that takes time & is worth doing! Doing anything out in the woods is a good thing, & better than watching a TV, IMO! Get some!

[Geezer in NH]

I let the grouse eat them, then shoot the grouse and cook in a pot of solider beans YUM!!

[shaner]

Never heard of these. Interesting

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[MaryB]

Invasive species here, they would be sprayed so no way would I eat them unless I found a patch in the middle of the woods...

[Johnch]

IMO Best to KILL the plants
As a kid , I helped Dad plant several thousand plants
The Feds and Ohio gave us the plants and payed us ( sort of ) to plant them

Then as the years passed the Autumn Olive plants showed just how that was a mistake and turned into a nasty Weed
Birds eat the berries and spread them everywhere

Once started in a area , really , REALLY tough to kill them off

The only way Dad and I were able to get rid of most of the plants was to pull each bush out with a tractor
Then use Spike tree killer several times

But in some areas of my place the bushes are starting to take over again

So the berries might be good to eat , but the bushes have a nasty dark side

John

[smithnframe]

Never heard of them?

[Michael J. Spangler]

IMO Best to KILL the plants
As a kid , I helped Dad plant several thousand plants
The Feds and Ohio gave us the plants and payed us ( sort of ) to plant them

Then as the years passed the Autumn Olive plants showed just how that was a mistake and turned into a nasty Weed
Birds eat the berries and spread them everywhere

Once started in a area , really , REALLY tough to kill them off

The only way Dad and I were able to get rid of most of the plants was to pull each bush out with a tractor
Then use Spike tree killer several times

But in some areas of my place the bushes are starting to take over again

So the berries might be good to eat , but the bushes have a nasty dark side

John

So what is the actual dark side? Just that they grow rampant with no end in sight? Is it that they take over areas and kill off other trees by robbing nutrients?
It seems they only stay on the edge of the woods in the full sunlight.
I don't live in an area where they're seen as a nuisance and I've always wondered about invasive species of plants that actually bare fruit like the Japanese wine berries. They may grow like mad but I don't really see it is a bad thing. Now if it was poison ivy or even something like bamboo that doesn't really have a benefit and grows super fast and is very hard to remove then I could see the problem.
I just always saw fruit baring trees and bushes and a good thing, even better when theres a lot of them.
I was just discussing this with my brother and we were wondering what the draw back was. Thanks!

[JWFilips]

They make an excellent jelly and good for fruit leather.
Birds go crazy for them I have seen turkeys jumping up to harvest the higher growing berries....Quite a sight

[webfoot10]

Ohhh nice. Do you have a recipe?

Just pick a couple of bushels of the ripe berries, ( make sure that they are not sprayed)
If you have a cider press dump the berries and press out the juice. If no press just mash
them up into pulp and dump the juice into a wire strainer to remove the seeds. I dump the
pulp into a clean cotton towel to remove most of the pulp. You will need two gals of juice.
Now the recipe, You will need a couple of the 5 gal containers that bottled water comes in.
Scald these out with boiling water to kill any bacteria. To each container dump two qt's of
berry juice, For each qt of juice add 4 qts of spring water, 2 qts juice+8 qts water, Well
water will work if it is all you got. Now you have to add 5 to 10 lbs of sugar, I mix the
sugar with boiling water to make a syrup, Pour the syrup into the container and mix well
with the juice/water mix. Now the container should be darn near full. Now cap the container
and shake till the sugar is pretty well desolved. Now take a packet of yeast used for baking
and mix with a little warm water and add to the juice/water mix. cap and shake again.
Put a air cap on and put in a cellar or any cool place, In a few days it will start to bubble,
the yeast is starting to work on the sugar. It will take a while for the wine to ferment.
Takes about 8 to 9 months till its ready. If you have room in the container and want a
stronger wine add a little more juice. If you like sweeter wine add more sugar.
This recipe will work with any fruit, same mixture. Have fun. BTW burn the seeds of
to russian/olive so they won't start growing, Don't throw them into a mulch pile, You'll
be sorry.
webfoot10

[Michael J. Spangler]

Just pick a couple of bushels of the ripe berries, ( make sure that they are not sprayed)
If you have a cider press dump the berries and press out the juice. If no press just mash
them up into pulp and dump the juice into a wire strainer to remove the seeds. I dump the
pulp into a clean cotton towel to remove most of the pulp. You will need two gals of juice.
Now the recipe, You will need a couple of the 5 gal containers that bottled water comes in.
Scald these out with boiling water to kill any bacteria. To each container dump two qt's of
berry juice, For each qt of juice add 4 qts of spring water, 2 qts juice+8 qts water, Well
water will work if it is all you got. Now you have to add 5 to 10 lbs of sugar, I mix the
sugar with boiling water to make a syrup, Pour the syrup into the container and mix well
with the juice/water mix. Now the container should be darn near full. Now cap the container
and shake till the sugar is pretty well desolved. Now take a packet of yeast used for baking
and mix with a little warm water and add to the juice/water mix. cap and shake again.
Put a air cap on and put in a cellar or any cool place, In a few days it will start to bubble,
the yeast is starting to work on the sugar. It will take a while for the wine to ferment.
Takes about 8 to 9 months till its ready. If you have room in the container and want a
stronger wine add a little more juice. If you like sweeter wine add more sugar.
This recipe will work with any fruit, same mixture. Have fun. BTW burn the seeds of
to russian/olive so they won't start growing, Don't throw them into a mulch pile, You'll
be sorry.
webfoot10

Awesome I might have to get together with my brother in law and try this recipe out.

Yeah I hear some people that hate the trees like to make jams and such just to take the seeds and remove them from the area.

[Wayne Smith]

You guys must be up north. Here in zone 8A they are still green. Any idea when they ripen here? I thought I'd pick a few and make a liquor.

[webfoot10]

You guys must be up north. Here in zone 8A they are still green. Any idea when they ripen here? I thought I'd pick a few and make a liquor.

Just have to wait till the berries turn a dark red. This goofy weather has even the plants screwed
up. I have not found any berries around here this year. Places that used to be loaded don't
have any berries this year. Got a lot of the russian olive bushes here but not a sign of fruit
this year. I live in the state of corruption (RI) where every thing is screwed up.

[augercreek]

We had a couple of bush's but they winter killed. Maybe they are considered invasive to some but NONE can compare with BUCKTHORN !!!!!Another fruit we grow is Sea Holly, tons of berries, any of you use them?

[AllanD]

Never heard of them?

Their common name is "Russian Olive", but their "Official name" is "Canadian Silverberry".

And I cannot imagine someone from Minnesota considering them an "Invasive Species". Their natural range is the entire northern Hemisphere's Temperate zone.


They are a common weed (a weed being defined as any plant growing where you don't want it) here in Pennsylvania, usually competing with the Honeysuckle and Blackberry & Black Raspberry!

[Three44s]

Autum Olive is not the same species as Russian Olive.

Best regards

Three44s

[truckjohn]

Before you go too far in this endeavor - try EATING some of the berries.

I planted a few based on recommendations - then tasted them... Yuck! I have since picked berries about a dozen times to try out... Yuck! Definitely spitters. They don't have that much flavor but are quite astringent.

I tried cooking them once but the astringency didn't cook out like it will in old fashioned bitter pears or quinces....