Autumn Olive is a wild edible that many people may not have heard of but it makes some of the most delicious jam you can make. I make it for home use and to sell at the farmer's market and I can't ever make enough of it because it sells so well.
First, let's start with a description. Autumn olive trees are invasive here in the U.S. This means that they aer not native to the continent and they can become so numerous all by themselves that they can do damage to native plants. This particular tree can fill up a meadow in a matter of a few years and shade out any plant that grows beneath it.
It is often described as a sparkly wild cherry tree. It has dark bark with narrow, lance like leaves. The leaves on the underside have a sort of silver shimmer that can be seen for quite a distance away. I can spot an autumn olive tree while driving 65 miles per hour on the Interstate. Once you know them they are easy to spot. Their fruit turns red when matures but it too has a shimmer it it. If you look at it closely it looks to be covered with a golden glitter. This is the best way to know the plant, look for the shimmer.
Autumn olive fruits are easy to pick. Grab the end of a branch filled with berries with one hands and hold it over a bucket. With the other hand strip the berries (and some leaves) into the bucket. If you have enough trees, you can fill a five gallon bucket in an hour. Don't worry about over harvesting. Remember, this is an invasive. By removing the berries, you don't allow the tree to spread.
A hint when picking these berries. When you are finished processing the berries you will have about 1/3 of the volume you started with so pick accordingly. Such as this recipe will call for 4 cups of autumn olive pulp so you will need to pick 12 cups of berries. It sounds like a lot but it really doesn't take that long. You can also half this recipe and therefor will only need to pick half the berries.
When you get the berries home it is time to pick through them. Remember stripping those branches of their berries? Well, probably a few leaves ended up falling into your bucket too. Take 'em out along with any bugs or odd stuff that fell in with them. While some books will tell you to, don't worry too much about the berry stems. If you have a few big ones, take them out, but don't spend the next two days picking out every berry stem. I don't and many people have eaten my jam and never knew.
From there run them through a food mill. Yes, once again I talk about a food mill. Really, if you process your own food you will find this tool indispensable. The seeds are large so you will have to do this in small batches. Run a batch through the mill, scrape out the seeds with a rubber spatula, and do the next batch. This is probably the hardest part of the whole process and it's not hard, just time consuming. If you don't have a food mill you can CAREFULLY press the berries through a sieve. Try not to break the seeds (they are hard so no worries about normal pressing, just don't beat them) because they are bitter and can add an "off" flavor to the finished jam.
I'll pick this up in part two; the actual making of the jam.
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