Autumn Olive Jam/Jelly

C. Amick

Well-known Member
Anyone ever make jam or jelly from autumn olive berries? We have an abundant crop this year and I think I am going to give it a try. Besides, the birds got all the elder berries. My research shows that the autumn olive berries are ripe from mid September through October. Don't know if I will like the product or not.
 
I remember it was made once by a local woman in central W. Va. in the 1980's. Taste was ok but it was too much work for too little reward. Very little flesh on the berry over a big seed. Can be done in a pinch when nothing else is available but never heard of it being tried again.
 
It's kinda like fox grapes - the seed is bigger than the berry, or so it seems.

You can make jelly from anything. We had a local woman who made corn cob jelly every year. It tasted ok, I guess, but the tourists bought every pint she could make, just for the hillbilly novelty. Most of the people who bought it were from the city, and had never even seen a corn cob.
 
I have used the berries in oatmeal. I have also seen a recipe for AO jelly in the net. AO is a blessing and a boon. I planted some 20-plus years ago, at the recommendation of the DNR, for wildlife cover. AO is used by everything: birds nest in it, deer and rabbits browse it, it creates cover and travel lanes, and everything eats the berries. And THAT'S where the problem comes in. Fertilized seeds are dropped everywhere and take root. I try to keep mine cut back for sprouting and use herbicide to treat what I don't want. Left unchecked, it will take over an entire field. I know 40-acre parcels that you couldn't walk through because of the AO. If I made jam or jelly, I think I would leave the seeds in. They are edible in the raw fruit and I would think they would soften up in the cooking process.

Larry
 
I read that A.O. is high in lycopene, vitamin A and C. Probably more nutritional than corn cobs. :)
 

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