Ripe berriesfrom aninvasive shrubthat’s fallenout of favorhave asurprisinglygood flavor.

Autumn Olive

Story and PhotosBy Joe McFarland

T hings went sour for theautumn olive berry yearsago. Beginning in the1950s and 60s, the Asianbush that produces loads

of food for wildlife—Elaeagnus umbel-late—was touted as a boon for naturalresources in America. It was promotedby the U.S. Department of Agriculturefor widespread planting in the Midwestand eastern U.S. through the late 1970s.Land managers were encouraged toplant seedlings wherever they wanted.“The tendency of autumn olive to

spread may keep some people fromplanting it,” a leaflet from the U.S.Department of Agriculture noted in1965. Yet, the plantings continued formany years thereafter and the loads ofjuicy berries each bush produced in thefall (up to 30 pounds of berries perbush, according to researchers) seemeda perfect food crop for wildlife.Everything from white-tailed deer to

raccoons and pheasants ate autumnolive. The trouble soon became obvious:

Seeds traveledwith wildlife and quicklycreated new bushes, transforming openlands into invasive, autumn-olive jungles.The rest is monoculture history.

Land managers today, armed with selec-tive herbicides and heavy equipment,

do their bestto battle the encroach-

ment of the very plant their predeces-sors helped propagate. Yet, one home-spun alternative today is making thebest of this battle with a delicious twist:The edible berries, squeezed and

16 / OutdoorIllinois October 2010

Jellymashed, can be transformed into jamand jelly. If discarded properly, theseeds will cease to live on to invadeother lands.Department of Natural Resources

mine inspector Clay Kolar said heknew the fruits of autumn olive wereedible for humans. But for years henever bothered to sample the berrieshe saw ripening in autumn aroundsouthern Illinois—including old minelands he visited.One day he popped a few berries

into his mouth.“They’re tart, but not super tart,”

Kolar described the flavor, adding thatit was surprisingly good. Among theedible plants and berries outdoorsmencollect, autumn olive became his sud-den favorite.“I’ve had plenty of persimmons that

I’ve spit out,” Kolar chuckled, “but I’venever spit out a handful of autumnolive berries.”After discovering the value of all of

those berries just a few years ago,Kolar now goes out of his way after

work to collect what used to be anoverlooked—or outright disparaged—source of sweetness.“It makes an amazing jelly,” he

boasted. “And it’s so easy. There are somany berries on so many bushes, youcan collect all you want in just a matterof minutes.”The ruby-colored jelly is reminiscent

of cherry and plum preserves. It’s madeby following package directions onsuch fruit pectin brands as Sure-Jell. (“Iuse the recipe they list for sour-cherryjelly,” Kolar added.)As with many other fruit preserves,

making jams and jellies out of autumnolive berries is basically a matter ofmashing the fruit to extract juice,removing the seeds and boiling theextract with added sugar and pectin.Pour the thickened liquid into can-

ning jars and you’re done.Collecting the abundant autumn

olive berries, which occur in the cen-

tral and southern regions of Illinois, canbe done by hand or by shaking branch-es and allowing berries to fall onto asheet below. It is legal to collect ediblenuts, berries and fungi in state parks,conservation areas, fish and wildlifeareas as well as other public lands man-aged by the Department of NaturalResources. Collecting is not allowedwithin Illinois nature preserves. (Naturepreserves might be individual proper-ties or designated portions within stateparks or other sites. Therefore, a por-tion—but not all—of a state park mightbe open for collecting while a differentportion is not.)Additionally, individual sites might

be closed to collecting while huntingprograms are active. Spring morelmushroom hunters, for example, knowthat it is against the law to hunt formushrooms in state parks until 1 p.m.daily, the time when wild turkey hunt-ing ceases. Always check site-specificregulations before collecting.

Although yellow-green berries

appear on autumn olive bushes by

midsummer, the fruits don’t ripen

until autumn.

October 2010 OutdoorIllinois / 17

Ruby red and berry sweet, jelly or jam

made from the ripe berries of autumn olive

has a flavor comparable to cherry jam.

Late autumn can be the ideal time

to find the sweetest autumn olive

berries. Do not confuse the red,

rough-speckled berries of autumn

olive with the red, smooth-skinned

berries of bush honeysuckle.

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