You are the only other person who has acknowledged “autumn olive” . I also would harvest the red buds from staghorn sumac. Learned many years ago a great middle eastern seasoning .
We harvest staghorn sumac too, it really has a lovely flavor (and it's the closest you can get to a lemon up here in the north). I absolutely love autumn olive, and we made some really lovely jam with it this year. It tastes like cranberry apple to me, and since everyone calls it "invasive" there's plenty of it.
i just finished some of the tea, much like hibiscus but as you said more avail where it is...as a kid i went up to my neighbors cottage in northern michigan, and remarked at how beautifyl the 'red bushes' were...my neighbor replied somewhat grumpily, Sumac! Grows everywhere! Can't get rid of it!!....He was English, and Scottish, maybe it didnt figure in his idea of a garden around his cottage. I can feel now how this saddened me even as a kid, since it is such an elegant plant, reminds me of deer or elk or moose the way it looks.... and food, I fail to see a downside to Sumac. Not much here in Portland, a bit too warm perhaps? Dunno. Just one in a front yard in my hood so far. Best
Here in the UK we've also noticed the Autumn berries are super scarce. I'd love to learn more about your hawthorn puree! Will you be sharing your method and what you'll use it for? I've only ever tinctured this in the past....
It is really excellent, though I added a bit more spice (pinch of ginger and nutmeg), but otherwise I used their recipe.
The main thing here that they don't cover here is how dry the flesh of hawthorns really is, and how hard it is to separate the pulp from the seeds/peels. They say "pour through a strainer to remove peels and seeds" but that doesn't really cover it. You're going to be working it through a food strainer or chinois FOREVER if you want anything more than the cooking liquid to come through.
I started by putting it through my kitchenaid powered food strainer, and the seeds are too big and it kept clogging. It plugged up so bad I almost broke it.
Thank you Ashley I only discovered Autumn Olive this year and yet now I know why the birds hadn't stolen them all! I enjoyed their tart astringency but I definitely will wait for the first Frost next year
From 30 years of tossing the leftovers "over the ditch" after pressing or straining crabapples, I have numerous small trees in addition to the "mother" tree, and they are loaded with apples. Making lots of applesauce and jelly.
We do that exact same thing! I have a hedgerow where I toss all the seeds from EVERYTHING and it's now full of wild plums, apples, nannyberry, cranberry and so many more.
Nice! We've collected a few handfuls this season, but I'm hoping for a big basket later this month. My daughter absolutely loves them, and she eats them raw right out in the field...carefully scraping the seeds off all around, then tossing back the bundle of seeds inside. I'm hoping to make her some rose hip things to keep her happy all winter.
Great find, state parks are wonderful places to forage!
Love all things you do and tell us about. I live in eastern washington ,so we don't have the same kind of trees you do. Its all very interesting. When I saw the comment about apple cider sirup ( spelling from old cookbook I have) . My mom always used the cores and peals of pears to make pear sirup. I made some this year. I love not wasting things. God Bless everyone!
There is a mature female Ginko tree in our town (Belvidere, Illinois). I sought permission from the Conservation district, midday, but their office was locked. So I took the route over to the field and saw many yellow fruits on the ground. Figuring those would be eventually rotting, I gathered, stepping gingerly. a few clusters were down with some leaves attached and I got a little bolder as a low branch greeted me with pairs of ginko fruit and leaves. It is the sought after nut inside that I will extract, I gathered about 2/3 of a gallon ziploc bag. At home I soaked them in water , (more than the 2 hours recommended). Wearing gloves, I began to remove the skin and flesh, revealing a good size nut (2 to 3 times the volume of a cherry pit. So far today I have cleaned 138 nuts and I will next, boil them for a minimum of ten minute. After cooling them, I can crack them open and remove the edible kernel; or they can be stored (uncracked) in a jar until ready to be used. Before eating, there is one more step of roasting the kernels. I think I will grind them into powder, which I can add to whatever I wish, for the benefits of Ginko biloba. A bit labor intensive, but I'm wanting to supplement ginko into my regimen, so free is worth the try.
One big thing this week is figuring out how to store our potatoes -- they usually grow lengthy eyes by mid-January. I'd really like them to store well into the spring. Any tips? I've been storing them in my mom's basement (my house doesn't have a basement); this year I'm trying a colder darker storage room to see if it stores better there.
And the other thing I'm doing is figuring out how to harvest wheat and turn it into flour! We tried growing wheat as an experiment and seem to have a good crop. I'm drying the heads now and researching how to turn it into flour without buying expensive equipment.
This weekend we will vapor barrier our yurt platform and lay the subfloor in preparation for our yurt! Hopefully grabbing elderberry cutting and ground cherries for seed from a dear friend
Hi Ashley. I would be interested to know if you can obtain tannin from the acorns and how you go about that as it is often a precursor to eco dying cellulose fibres.
Making parsley pesto for the freezer. A seemingly infinite amount of pickled beets and carrots. Cleaning squash to put in storage. The last stretch here!
You are the only other person who has acknowledged “autumn olive” . I also would harvest the red buds from staghorn sumac. Learned many years ago a great middle eastern seasoning .
We harvest staghorn sumac too, it really has a lovely flavor (and it's the closest you can get to a lemon up here in the north). I absolutely love autumn olive, and we made some really lovely jam with it this year. It tastes like cranberry apple to me, and since everyone calls it "invasive" there's plenty of it.
i just finished some of the tea, much like hibiscus but as you said more avail where it is...as a kid i went up to my neighbors cottage in northern michigan, and remarked at how beautifyl the 'red bushes' were...my neighbor replied somewhat grumpily, Sumac! Grows everywhere! Can't get rid of it!!....He was English, and Scottish, maybe it didnt figure in his idea of a garden around his cottage. I can feel now how this saddened me even as a kid, since it is such an elegant plant, reminds me of deer or elk or moose the way it looks.... and food, I fail to see a downside to Sumac. Not much here in Portland, a bit too warm perhaps? Dunno. Just one in a front yard in my hood so far. Best
I'm harvesting the last of the tomatoes and peppers. Baking with apple cider and trying new recipes.
Yum!
If you have a lot of cider on hand, try making cider syrup (also called boiled cider), you won't be sorry!
Here in the UK we've also noticed the Autumn berries are super scarce. I'd love to learn more about your hawthorn puree! Will you be sharing your method and what you'll use it for? I've only ever tinctured this in the past....
The hawthorn puree actually went into a recipe for hawthorn ketchup from Great British Chefs: https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/hawthorn-berry-recipes-foraging
It is really excellent, though I added a bit more spice (pinch of ginger and nutmeg), but otherwise I used their recipe.
The main thing here that they don't cover here is how dry the flesh of hawthorns really is, and how hard it is to separate the pulp from the seeds/peels. They say "pour through a strainer to remove peels and seeds" but that doesn't really cover it. You're going to be working it through a food strainer or chinois FOREVER if you want anything more than the cooking liquid to come through.
I started by putting it through my kitchenaid powered food strainer, and the seeds are too big and it kept clogging. It plugged up so bad I almost broke it.
Anyhow, if you do the recipe, I'd recommend using a food mill like this: https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Food-1071478/dp/B000I0MGKE
Don't use something with a drill that presses the pulp through, like a victorio strainer. A chinois works too, but is very slow going.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'll check out the recipe properly before giving it a go. It sounds like a lot of effort!
Thank you Ashley I only discovered Autumn Olive this year and yet now I know why the birds hadn't stolen them all! I enjoyed their tart astringency but I definitely will wait for the first Frost next year
Good plan!
From 30 years of tossing the leftovers "over the ditch" after pressing or straining crabapples, I have numerous small trees in addition to the "mother" tree, and they are loaded with apples. Making lots of applesauce and jelly.
We do that exact same thing! I have a hedgerow where I toss all the seeds from EVERYTHING and it's now full of wild plums, apples, nannyberry, cranberry and so many more.
Rose hips! Went to a Wisconsin State Park over the weekend and found oodles of Rose Hips! Collected many for making cosmetics and tea!
Nice! We've collected a few handfuls this season, but I'm hoping for a big basket later this month. My daughter absolutely loves them, and she eats them raw right out in the field...carefully scraping the seeds off all around, then tossing back the bundle of seeds inside. I'm hoping to make her some rose hip things to keep her happy all winter.
Great find, state parks are wonderful places to forage!
Still waiting for the hips here. Noticed the first one on our rosa rugosa yesterday!
Love all things you do and tell us about. I live in eastern washington ,so we don't have the same kind of trees you do. Its all very interesting. When I saw the comment about apple cider sirup ( spelling from old cookbook I have) . My mom always used the cores and peals of pears to make pear sirup. I made some this year. I love not wasting things. God Bless everyone!
There is a mature female Ginko tree in our town (Belvidere, Illinois). I sought permission from the Conservation district, midday, but their office was locked. So I took the route over to the field and saw many yellow fruits on the ground. Figuring those would be eventually rotting, I gathered, stepping gingerly. a few clusters were down with some leaves attached and I got a little bolder as a low branch greeted me with pairs of ginko fruit and leaves. It is the sought after nut inside that I will extract, I gathered about 2/3 of a gallon ziploc bag. At home I soaked them in water , (more than the 2 hours recommended). Wearing gloves, I began to remove the skin and flesh, revealing a good size nut (2 to 3 times the volume of a cherry pit. So far today I have cleaned 138 nuts and I will next, boil them for a minimum of ten minute. After cooling them, I can crack them open and remove the edible kernel; or they can be stored (uncracked) in a jar until ready to be used. Before eating, there is one more step of roasting the kernels. I think I will grind them into powder, which I can add to whatever I wish, for the benefits of Ginko biloba. A bit labor intensive, but I'm wanting to supplement ginko into my regimen, so free is worth the try.
One big thing this week is figuring out how to store our potatoes -- they usually grow lengthy eyes by mid-January. I'd really like them to store well into the spring. Any tips? I've been storing them in my mom's basement (my house doesn't have a basement); this year I'm trying a colder darker storage room to see if it stores better there.
And the other thing I'm doing is figuring out how to harvest wheat and turn it into flour! We tried growing wheat as an experiment and seem to have a good crop. I'm drying the heads now and researching how to turn it into flour without buying expensive equipment.
Love the acorn flour tips. Have been doing acorn flour for years. Thank you!
This weekend we will vapor barrier our yurt platform and lay the subfloor in preparation for our yurt! Hopefully grabbing elderberry cutting and ground cherries for seed from a dear friend
Hi Ashley. I would be interested to know if you can obtain tannin from the acorns and how you go about that as it is often a precursor to eco dying cellulose fibres.
https://spindlesinthewild.com/2018/09/12/natural-dyeing-with-acorns/
Thanks so much Kathy I will try this in the Autumn when the acorns are on the ground. I am in NZ so we are just in Spring here at the moment
Making parsley pesto for the freezer. A seemingly infinite amount of pickled beets and carrots. Cleaning squash to put in storage. The last stretch here!
You've given me lots of great recipes for items that have been in my yard all along -- yet never tried! Thanks!! Kim in NH
Thank you Brook!