Autumn Olive [Elaeagnus umbellata] Jam

This year I've had a bumper crop of autumn olives.   We have several wild trees and the one across the way is huge and covered with berries.  They're good this year.   Even the dog will strip ripe berries from the lowest branches.  

With all that abundance, I thought you might like a quick list of the lovely jams you can make with these wonderful berries.

Elaeagnus Raspberry Jam [my favorite!]

Elaeagnus Peach Jam

Elaeagnus Apple Jam

Elaeagnus Orange Ginger Jam

Once you've made the jam, here's a great recipe for Eric's Jam Bars.  Delish!

And if you're wondering what the heck autumn olives are in the first place, check out this post.

Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Raspberry Jam

I'm shameless.  I saved the best for last.

As you know, I've been doing a lot of new jams this year using the abundant elaeagnus [autumn olive] berries around here.  I'm happy to say that the family has loved every single one of them.  However, this one was truly a jam home-run.

I mixed the elaeagnus with red raspberries to see if it would be anything like the cran-raspberry stuff you get at the store.  [You can make jelly out of the cran-raspberry juice at the store by using this method here.  It's fabulous!]   It worked.  

Oh. My. Sweet. Buttered. Biscuits.

This jam. 

This Jam! 

Come to mama.   As soon as the first jar was emptied, someone opened a second [so it's a good thing I made 2 batches of this one!]

Elaeagnus [Autumn olive] Raspberry Jam
www.rurification.com

2 cups elaeagnus [autumn olive] pulp [for directions on getting the pulp, see this post]
2 cups red raspberries [fresh or frozen]
3 tablespoons low sugar pectin
2 - 3 cups sugar 

Combine elaeagnus, raspberries and pectin in a large pot. Bring to a hard boil [one that you can't stir down.] Boil one minute, stirring constantly.   Add sugar and stir well.  Bring to hard boil again stirring constantly.  Boil one minute.   Ladle into jars and cover with clean lids and rings.  Process for canning.

This jam is very acidic and is very safe for canning.  Makes about 5 cups.

Note:  I used 3 cups of sugar and it's pretty sweet.  If you want to use less sugar, I think you might be able to try it with only 2 cups.  Taste it before you do the final boil to see if you need more sugar and add to taste.

Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Apple Jam

I've been experimenting with Elaeagnus [autumn olive] and other fruit in jam this year.   Since elaeagnus are a bit similar in flavor and tartness to cranberries, I knew I'd have to try an Elaeagnus Apple Jam.

It's heaven in a jar.  Everyone in the family loved it.  I'm thinking this would be a fabulous jam to use as a glaze on ham.   Or chicken.   Or those meatball thingies that you make in the slow cooker.   Yes!

To make it easier to make, I used apple juice concentrate from a can in this jam instead of fresh apples and since that stuff is pretty sweet, I cut the sugar down to 2 cups.  It's perfectly sweet-tart just like cran-apple juice.


Elaeagnus [Autumn olive] Apple Jam
www.rurification.com

2 cups elaeagnus [autumn olive] pulp [for directions on getting the pulp, see this post]
1 can apple juice concentrate
3 tablespoons low sugar pectin
2 cups sugar 

Combine elaeagnus, apple juice concentrate and pectin in a large pot. Bring to a hard boil [one that you can't stir down.] Boil one minute, stirring constantly.   Add sugar and stir well.  Bring to hard boil again stirring constantly.  Boil one minute.   Ladle into jars and cover with clean lids and rings.  Process for canning.

This jam is very acidic and is very safe for canning.  Makes about 5 cups.

If you don't want to use apple juice concentrate, you can use 2 cups of applesauce instead.   And if you want to use fresh apples, then peel and core 2 apples and cook them until soft.  Then make the jam. 

Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Peach Jam

As I mentioned in my last post, it's elaeagnus season. [The common name is autumn olive, but there is nothing remotely olive-y about these.]  Pick them when they are dark red and softening up.  They should fall off the clusters easily when they are ripe.

This year I realized that elaeagnus are really the hoosier equivalent of cranberries in tartness and that they'd probably be pretty darn good in mixed fruit jams, just like cranberry juice is beloved in mixed fruit juices.   I decided to start there.

It's easy to find cran-apple and cran-raspberry juice mixes at the store, so I put those combinations on my Mixed Fruit Elaeagnus Jam To Make list right away.  Then I saw a recipe for Cranberry Peach Jam somewhere [sorry, can't remember where...!] and thought I should try that one, too. 

And I did.   And it was marvelous.   The elaeagnus berries have a sort of spicy undertone and the finished jam has the flavor of a gently spiced peach jam with the extra oomph of the tart elaeagnus, too.   We loved it!

I mixed the elaeagnus half and half with the other fruit - you can adjust proportions as you wish.   One thing to remember - don't skimp on the sugar with elaeagnus.  It's tart!   I have found that using equal parts sugar and elaeagnus makes for an excellent jam.  I also add in half as much sugar as extra fruit for a jam that is sweet without being candy.   Here's what I did for the Elaeagnus Peach Jam.  

Elaeagnus [Autumn olive] Peach Jam
www.rurification.com

2 cups elaeagnus [autumn olive] pulp [for directions on getting the pulp, see this post]
2 cups chopped peaches
3 tablespoons low sugar pectin
3 cups sugar 

Combine elaeagnus, peaches and pectin in a large pot. Bring to a hard boil [one that you can't stir down.] Boil one minute, stirring constantly.   Add sugar and stir well.  Bring to hard boil again stirring constantly.  Boil one minute.   Ladle into jars and cover with clean lids and rings.  Process for canning.

This jam is very acidic and is very safe for canning.  Makes about 5 cups.

Stay tuned for the recipes for Elaeagnus Apple Jam and Elaeagnus Raspberry Jam later this week.

Autumn Olive Season

Our Elaeagnus [pronounced Elly Agnus] berries are ripening all over the place.   The ones at the top of the hill ripen faster than the ones in other places and it's a good year for them so the three of us grabbed buckets and spent a happy half hour harvesting. 

Really ripe berries will just fall off the clusters into your buckets.    Those are the sweetest ones. 

Once you get the berries, you can cook them up and sieve the seeds out [see link above] and then make fabulous stuff with the pulp.    Yum!

You need to know a couple of things about these berries.

1.  They're tart!   Don't skimp on the sugar.   If you're making up your own recipes, then you need enough sugar for the grey-ish juice to turn red.   If you don't have enough sugar, you'll still see sort of a gray juice hanging around near the top.   Add just enough sugar for that to go away.   I generally use as much sugar as I have elaeagnus pulp in the recipe. 

2.  They vary on how much pectin is in them from year to year.   The first year I made jam with them, I used pectin and it made a super hard jam.   The next year I didn't use pectin and it was perfect.   Last year I made jam with no pectin and it's still runny.   This year I used less pectin than normal and got a good jam, not too hard.     You can use a greater percentage of unripe berries to increase the pectin, but then you'd better use more sugar [see #1.]

Here's last year's recipe for Elaeagnus Orange Ginger Jam.  I have a recipe with pectin and a recipe without. 

I've been experimenting this year, so stay tuned for recipes for these awesome mixed fruit jams with elaeagnus, coming up in the next week. 

[UPDATE:   Here are the links to these recipes]

Elaeagnus (Autumn Olive) Peach Jam
Elaeagnus (Autumn Olive) Apple Jam
Elaeagnus (Autumn Olive) Raspberry Jam

They are all delicious combinations and have passed the family taste test with rave reviews.   Who knew these wild berries would be so versatile?!

Tree Damage

My favorite autumn olive tree [Elaeagnus umbellata] was laid low by the recent winter troubles.    All that heavy snow just after the new year bent it right over.   The bending isn't a problem except that a lot of splitting occurred, too and around here that just means disease for a tree.  This tree has a date with the chain saw.

This is some of the damage.

Split limb.

The main trunk, laid on its side, split.

Here's the base of the main trunk - split pretty badly.  If you blow the pic up, you can see a lot of bird damage, too.   The woodpeckers and sap suckers must really love this tree.

Here's a close up of some of those bird holes.  I think they look pretty cool.


We'll try to salvage part of the tree.  It's a good bearer - thornless, too - and I don't want to lose it.

Edible

These are elaeagnus berries, also called autumn olive.  You won't see them in the grocery store, but you will find loads and loads of these growing wild out here.  They're delicious and nutritious.

But don't just take my word for it.

Once in a while I get an email from someone asking me How I Know something is edible. 

It's a good question.  

I know things are edible or not because I Do My Research.  I see cool stuff on blogs all the time, but I never, ever try a new food before I do my own search and have several sources that say a food is OK to eat and that it has no known side effects [psychotropic berries, anyone?].  Only then do I offer it to my kids to eat, too.  

Just because native Americans used to eat something is not a good enough reason.  Look what happened to them.

I always double check through poisonous plant lists.   Just do a search with the name of the plant and 'poisonous'.   Then do a search for the plant and 'edible'.  



I look for recipes used by normal people today.   Once I find several people who have used that plant and had good results, then I feel free to experiment all I want. 

We've found some terrific, delicious wild things around here that our family loves.   It's sumac season right now.   Soon there will be jars of drupes soaking for our favorite early fall treat. 

Eric's Jam Bars

Every jam-maker has a few batches of jam that just never quite set up the way they're supposed to.   Runny jam is a reality that we all have to deal with now and again.  

Eric loves runny jam.   It's usually thicker than syrup and he considers it much easier to bake with than regular jam.   Plus, it's easier to use on waffles with yogurt.  Plus it's good without the waffles on yogurt.   Or ice cream.

And all sorts of other things.

Like this riff on Lemon Bars.   Only they're not Lemon Bars, they're Elaeagnus Orange Ginger Marmalade Bars.  Because that jam never quite firmed up all the way.   A perfect chance to experiment with some new recipes!   And these are amazing. They disappeared fast!

Eric's Jam Squares:  Elaeagnus Orange Ginger Marmalade Bars
www.rurification.com

Crust:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened 
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1  cup all-purpose flour 

 Filling

• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 pint jam  [or 2 jars, 8 oz. each]

 Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix the butter, sugar and flour well.   Eric used a food processor.   Press the crust into the bottom of a 9x9 square pan.  Bake empty crust until golden - 15 minutes or so.

While the crust is in the oven, beat the eggs, flour and jam together well.   When the crust is done, pour the filling in and bake for an additional 20 - 25  minutes.  Keep an eye on it; you don't want it to brown.  

Remove from oven and cool completely.   Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Want the recipe for the Elaeagnus Orange Ginger Marmalade and a whole lot of other terrific jam recipes?   Check out my ebook:  A Simple Jar of Jam  at www.rurification.etsy.com.   You can preview the book by clicking the link on the sidebar.

Elaeagnus Ripening

The autumn olive berries are starting to turn red.   It'll be a bumper crop year and the birds are already stripping some of the trees, which I totally don't get because those things are seriously puckery.   I wait until they turn red and start getting soft before I harvest.  

I'm trying to decide what to make with them this year.   More jam for sure, but maybe a mixed jam, too?   Elaeagnus strawberry?   1 part elaeagnus to 3 parts strawberry....  or peach?   Or blueberry?   Or elderberry?    Hmmmmm.

Elaeagnus Buds

This is early Elaeagnus umbellata.  I've talked about these trees before.  I love them.  The bees love them.   

They're starting to leaf and set flower buds.  Good news for the bees and for jam making later.

Autumn Olive Ginger Orange Jam

Our Elaeagnus [autumn olive] trees held on to their fruit for a while this year.  Or maybe we just have more trees now, but at any rate, I had a lot of berries for several weeks this year.    The ducks finally found them and spent days vacuuming up the windfalls.   Hilarious!

Here's the thing about autumn olive berries - they're sour.    Unless you wait for them to get soft.  When they're soft, they're much sweeter inside, but that spotty outside skin is still pretty astringent.

OK - it's very astringent. 

And the new red berries are pretty sour.

It doesn't matter.   You get a delicious product no matter when you pick them.    I made this jam with these early sour ones and people loved it.

Loved. It. 

My point is this - pick the red berries when you can.   Cook them up and run them through a sieve or chinois to separate the seeds and skins.   Then make something delicious with them.   Like this jam.

This jam can be a no pectin jam.   The early red berries have loads of pectin in them and make sure you include some orange or greenish berries.   But remember!  they also require quite a bit of sugar to tame the sour.    Use the full amount.  This is not an overly sweet jam.  

I've also included a recipe for jam with pectin for when your berries are really good and ripe [and less pectin]

Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Ginger Orange Jam without pectin

from www.rurification.com

• 4 cups elaeagnus sauce [from about 8 cups of berries]
• zest and juice of 2 oranges
• 1/4 cup fresh grated ginger
• 4 cups sugar

Combine ingredients and bring to hard boil.   Boil a minute or so.   Turn off heat, ladle into jars.  Process for canning. 


Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Ginger Orange Jam with pectin

from www.rurification.com

• 4 cups elaeagnus sauce [from about 8 cups of berries]
• zest and juice of 2 oranges
• 1/4 cup fresh grated ginger
• 3 Tablespoons low sugar pectin
• 4 cups sugar

Combine elaeagnus, orange zest and juice, ginger and pectin in a large pot. Bring to a hard boil [one that you can't stir down.] Boil one minute, stirring constantly.   Add sugar and stir well.  Bring to hard boil again stirring constantly.  Boil one minute.   Ladle into jars and cover with clean lids and rings.  Process for canning. 


Want the recipe for this jam and a whole lot of other terrific jam recipes?   Check out my ebook:  A Simple Jar of Jam  at www.rurification.etsy.com.   You can preview the book by clicking the link on the sidebar.  Every purchase helps support this site.  Thank you!