Autumn Olive

[CrealCritter]

Might as well start a new thread on autumn olives. This is my first time messing with them. But easy enough to harvest. Just give the shrub/tree a good pruning and sit down inside and get to picking off the pruned branches, easy!

The brush/tree, get em before the birds do.

About one of those big coffee cans full.

I'll rinse them off and bag for freezing until I get ready to use them.

There lots of food recipes for autumn olive, lots of recipes for both mead and wine, lots of autumn olive medicinal uses also. So why not see what it's all about. I eat a few berries, they are quite sweet raw plus I'm still alive and no stomach ache - so there you go 😂

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[CrealCritter]

Rinse them off in a pot, stir around a bit, leaves and twigs, ect... floats to the top. Then you can skim off the trash and drain the water out. I guess one of those big coffee cans holds 16 cups because I got 15 cups into 4 gallon freezer bags.

Rinse and skim off trash

15 cups rinsed and cleaned for the deep freezer.

Now I just need to find a good wine or mead recipe. If I can't find one to my liking then I'll just make up my own, which is easy enough.

They are a pretty looking berry and like I said taste pretty sweet. I read the contain about 8% sugar by weight so that's pretty good berry for wine/mead musk.


Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[CrealCritter]

Some more general info on autumn olives (internet link).

Autumn Olives

Autumn olives are small in size and are round to oval in shape, growing on a deciduous shrub that can grow as tall as six meters in height. The spotted, matte...

www.specialtyproduce.com

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[Hinotori]

Id never heard of them. It's an interesting plant. Probably invasive here because most things are with our climate.

 

[CrealCritter]

Id never heard of them. It's an interesting plant. Probably invasive here because most things are with our climate.

Me either, until I researched my surroundings.

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[R2elk]

I should see if there are recipes for Russian Olives. I have two kinds here. When ripe they are very sweet but unpleasant to eat because they are very hairy.

One type makes a much bigger, fatter olive.

 

[Hinotori]

Russian olives in spring gag you with the sickly sweet scent of the flowers. It's just too much when there are acres of them blowing into town.

 

[CrealCritter]

I should see if there are recipes for Russian Olives. I have two kinds here. When ripe they are very sweet but unpleasant to eat because they are very hairy.

One type makes a much bigger, fatter olive.

The berries are small but see that white film on them? That's wild yeast, like what you find on grapes. Now honestly I am perhaps overly cautious about how clean and sterilized my gear is when I brew or make wine. But I've always sterilized my musk and pitched store bought yeast. I've never had the "courage" to try and just let the wild yeast do its thing.

I may pick another bunch of autumn olives, not rinse them and crush, add sugar and water and see what happens. One will never know what might become if one never tries. Who knows It could be absolutely horrible or absolutely delicious. But I won't know unless I have courage and give it a try, by following this recipe ---> https://www.drinksplanet.com/ive-be...ild-yeast-that-is-on-the-berry...-724617.html

Just for the record... No one has talked me into a wild yeast autumn olive fermentation. "If" I do it, I did it of my own free will. This is incase I ferment up something that would not be good for me or anyone else 😲. Bravery or stupidity! 🤔 you decide...

Autumn olive berries covered in wild yeast. Wild yeast is just that "wild" and who knows if the wild yeast that grown on my autumn olives is good or bad??? We might just find out... that is "if" I'm brave or stupid enough to give it a try.

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[CrealCritter]

Russian olives in spring gag you with the sickly sweet scent of the flowers. It's just too much when there are acres of them blowing into town.

There is just something very satisfying about bush hogging a patch of russian olives, at least it's satisfying for me. I like the sound they make getting chewed up into tiny bits by the bush hog at full RPMs.

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[Hinotori]

My great aunt has one that is absolutely huge. It was a decent sized tree when they bought the place in the 1950s. I used to climb it in the 80s. It had a big limb that curved out about 10 feet over the path to the sagebrush up front. Storm finally got that limb about 5 years ago but the tree is still going strong.

A lot of the ones that were growing down outside of my small town were blown over about 15 years ago when a huge windstorm came down the Gorge. Trees don't naturally grow anywhere there except by the rivers or springs because there isn't enough water to make them grow strong. A century of farming with canals and flood irrigation used in many places into the 90s created artificial marsh seeps in areas as well as an artificially sustained water table about 5-10 feet down in places. The russian olives thrived in that. Lower water levels and restrictions on irrigation have eliminated that in the last couple decades. Trees got stressed, some died. Sustained hurricane force winds from the west took out most of the rest. The Gorge does a good job of making winds nasty.