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autumn olive replacement for cranberry sauce?

 
gardener
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The autumn olives are super plump and juicy this year.  This week is prime foraging for them in my neck of the woods; I gathered about 2 quarts in 15 minutes on my first outing today; I plan to forage many more.
I usually make jam with them, but I'm thinking they would make a great substitute for cranberry sauce.  The trouble is that I've never made regular cranberry sauce, never mind an autumn olive version. Any suggestions?  I'd also be interested to hear how others use their autumn olives.

Right now they're on my counter waiting to be picked over, sitting happily next to the unripe tomatoes that I brought in early because brown spot had hit a couple of plants hard after 4 days of heavy rain.  
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steward
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I usually cook mine then push them through a food mill and dry the resulting pulp to make fruit leather.
I love your idea of making a cranberry sauce from them.
I am thinking this year about making a jam from them and using it in thumb print sugar cookies that I will make from acorn flour and maple sugar.  Tree based cookies just sound wonderful to me
 
Susan Mené
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Come to think of it, I made fruit leather with it about a decade ago.  It was delicious.  
 
pollinator
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Great idea!! I think just make it like a thin jam. How did it turnout?
 
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Your pictures are stunning!

Those autumn olives look so much like cranberries that I bet a sauce from them would be tasty.

It has been a long time since I made cranberry sauce though I remember the process being easy.

Cook the berries with sugar until done.  Sorry, that I am not sure of the proportions.

I also liked to make an orange and cranberry relish though it was not a real relish as in pickles.

Diced oranges and diced cooked cranberries in a sauce.

Thanks for bringing back those memories.
 
Susan Mené
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Thank YOU Anne...I have them frozen and ready to go for Thanksgiving.
 
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Susan Mené wrote:I have them frozen and ready to go for Thanksgiving.

I recall them having a noticeable seed. Are you going to put them through a food mill or jelly bag?

My shrub got planted where I thought it would grow, but I think it's too tempting for the deer, so I've yet to get any fruit. I'm going to give it a larger cage it next spring - it's got a short one, but that just meant that the deer couldn't kill it.

Once it's established, hopefully I'll get enough fruit to need recipes!
 
Susan Mené
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Jay Angler wrote:

Susan Mené wrote:I have them frozen and ready to go for Thanksgiving.

I recall them having a noticeable seed. Are you going to put them through a food mill or jelly bag?

My shrub got planted where I thought it would grow, but I think it's too tempting for the deer, so I've yet to get any fruit. I'm going to give it a larger cage it next spring - it's got a short one, but that just meant that the deer couldn't kill it.

Once it's established, hopefully I'll get enough fruit to need recipes!



Prior to freezing I warmed them until they started till they split and then put them through a food mill.  I then froze them. It'llefinitely jelly instead of a whole-berry "sauce", but now I'm wavering;  I usually make a sweet jelly with a bit of cinnamon that tastes like Christmas all year long, so I think I'll go that route.

Come to think of it, I have raspberries and blackberries to can as well.
 
Susan Mené
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I ended up trying to make my usual jam using apples to thicken instead of pectin.  Slightly overcooked it (doing too many things at once).  Going to use some of it to make thumbprint cookies and will still enjoy the rest.  Has anyone else use apples for thickening jam?  I got the idea from making apple syrup from peels and cores.
 
Greg Martin
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Susan Mené wrote:I Has anyone else use apples for thickening jam?


I did similarly but used flowering quince fruits this year to set the jam.  Worked out nicely.  I still need to make some cookies.
autumn-olive-flowering-quince-jam.jpg
autumn olive jam thickened with flowering quince
autumn olive jam thickened with flowering quince
 
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This is an invasive species! All that extra nitrogen is going to wash into the river and upset the delicate native ecosystem, you're literally Hitler!

Just kidding, I love Autumn Olive.  I wish people with the big plump varieties would start sharing some cuttings or something.  Mine are barely the size of a pea, but I still love them.
 
pollinator
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Susan Mené wrote:I ended up trying to make my usual jam using apples to thicken instead of pectin.  Slightly overcooked it (doing too many things at once).  Going to use some of it to make thumbprint cookies and will still enjoy the rest.  Has anyone else use apples for thickening jam?  I got the idea from making apple syrup from peels and cores.



This year, I made my usual red currant jelly for Christmas cookies, but it was a bit more than one jar, so after filling one jar, I cooked up the rest with chopped apple and some of the red currant pulp for a currant-apple jam.
 
Susan Mené
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Cj Picker wrote:This is an invasive species! All that extra nitrogen is going to wash into the river and upset the delicate native ecosystem, you're literally Hitler!

Just kidding, I love Autumn Olive.  I wish people with the big plump varieties would start sharing some cuttings or something.  Mine are barely the size of a pea, but I still love them.



This is the first year I've found big berries on my usual favorite trees.  It was surprise for sure!
 
Cj Picker
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Susan Mené wrote:
This is the first year I've found big berries on my usual favorite trees.  It was surprise for sure!



There is hope!
 
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