Autumn olives are out!
We went to a local park where they line a sunny edge, placed a bucket (more like a trough) on the ground and stripped off probably 10-12 cups. My husband wanted them as a vegan birthday pie. I don't particularly recommend what I did (didn't even have a pie dish ha), but sharing for those hobbling together some data pieces:
- whole wheat crust (per preference, with vegan butter)
- 5 cups autumn olives
- ~ 1.5 cups sugar (to taste)
- ~8 tablespoons corn starch (to consistency, careful to avoid clumping when adding it)
- 1 pack silken tofu (10 ounce, blended in at the end when I realized I just made jam ha)
We wanted to leave the seeds in (lots of omegas! some texture! and no need to cook the filling first if you are confident in the plan), but in the end we ran it through a strainer since the rest of the family wouldn't enjoy seeds. Boiled the autumn olives with sugar to taste. After straining it was basically jam, so I kept adding more corn starch.
It would have worked better as a small tart. Nice tangy taste like rhubarb, bet you could add some other fruits (strawberry, apple, etc) to help give more consistency. I would have added more silken tofu to cut the flavor, but didn't want to experiment too much haha. We served small slices with ice cream and it was delicious : )
Inspiration:
Someone suggested adjusting the rasberry pie recipe (though no recipe provided):
http://foragingfamily.blogspot.com/2010/10/autunm-olive-pie.html
A meringue pie recipe (eggs give lots of the structure):
https://tracksandroots.com/2021/02/05/autumn-olive-meringue-pie/
Lemon and autumn olive tart recipe:
https://www.ediblewildfood.com/lemon-autumn-olive-tart.aspx