Need HELP identifying a red berry bush behind my house!

[candle80]

Hello,

I am new here and am excited to learn more about wild edible things. A couple of weeks ago, I discovered a tall "tree" that was covered in small dark reddish/burgandy berries in the woods above my house in SW VA. My uncle tried to tell me it was called "Ah-tom-ah-lee" but I have no idea how that is truly pronounced or spelled and my search on google was unsuccessful. He said they were not poisonous and turkeys really like them. I squeezed one and a rich dark red/rust juice came out along with one small seed (about the size of a blackberry seed or a tad larger). I also put one in my mouth and spit it out just to taste. It tasted like an apple/cranberry wrapped up in a berry and wasn't bad at all! So...I have this vision to collect all I can (they are starting to die off now) and puree them and make a lovely jam, but I'd really like to know WHAT they are and IF they have any hazards to humans. I have uploaded a picture to snapfish, if you would like to PM me and I can send the liink, but I am so intrigued. Nothing I have researched looks like these. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Annpan]

Welcome to 'ish

Can you tell us what area of the world you are in?

Next, you can put a link here for your photo, or put it on as an attachment (which would be easier)

What kind of leaves does your bush have?

[Rod in Japan]

That would be Southwest Virginia, USA. I can identify that, but probably not the berry.

[candle80]

Yes, it is Southwest, Virginia, USA. Thanks for the welcome. Let me try and post the link...



http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq24 ... 080251.jpg

[Ellendra]

Looks like an Autumn Olive.

[candle80]

Wow, you're right! How on earth did my uncle call it what he did? LOL! I never thought of it as being two words. How beautiful! And people do make jam from it, I read. Does anyone on here have a recipe?

[Rod in Japan]

"Ah-tom-ah-lee" sounds like "Autumn Olive".

That looks like something worth investigating - nitrogen fixing, with edible berries, and apparently native to Japan. It might go well in my garden somewhere. It also might be good for people who keep chickens.

[candle80]

I picked over 8 cups of berries this evening. I want to make jam tomorrow, but the only recipe I have found is one where you boil the berries in water and mash them in a sieve to get the seeds out. I had planned on just washing them and whizzing the whole berry in my Vita-Mix which is pretty good at pulverizing even seeds. Has anyone tried this and do you think that would turn out alright? I've only made cherry preserves before so I don't knowhow it would work. I don't want it to be so thin that it won't set. I tried chewing a seed today and it didn't seem bitter. It shouldn't hurt the taste? Any suggestions/help appreciated!

[Ellendra]

Whizzing them might make it too smooth, a bit of texture is good in jams. You can try it though.

Sometimes jam won't set anyway, and the you have berry syrup for your pancakes :p

[invisiblepiper]

How about boiling then putting in a muslin jelly bag - leave to strain overnight and make jelly with the juice. You can add some water to the boiling part - about 50% of the total volume.
Add apple juice or lemon juice to help set. Sugar ratio is a pound1lb to a pint of juice.

[Thomzo]

Almost all of my jam is made as a mixture of apple and whatever berries I have. Apple adds volume cheaply and contains pectin which helps to set the jam.

The pips might help with pectin as well, but pulverising them might make the jam gritty or a funny colour. Depending on how big they are, you could leave them, scoop them out with a spoon as the mixture is cooking or strain the stewed fruit as the recipe suggests. It's really not very difficult and doesn't take much extra time.

Edited to say that I've just found this (on a US website so may not apply in other climates)

"Once established, this species is highly invasive and difficult to control. Burned, mowed, or cut plants will resprout vigorously."

Zoe

[invisiblepiper]

Almost all of my jam is made as a mixture of apple and whatever berries I have. Apple adds volume cheaply and contains pectin which helps to set the jam.

Hi Thomzo - are there any particular fruits which work well with the apples - apart from brambles? I have a bumper crop of apples to deal with this year!

[Ellendra]

"Once established, this species is highly invasive and difficult to control. Burned, mowed, or cut plants will resprout vigorously."

Zoe

So eat all the berries before they have a chance to sprout :p

[Rod in Japan]

"Once established, this species is highly invasive and difficult to control. Burned, mowed, or cut plants will resprout vigorously."

Zoe

So eat all the berries before they have a chance to sprout :p

When I see things like this, I always wonder why it never occurs to these people to pull up the roots. If you're at all determined to remove one plant and replace it with another, it seems like an obvious approach. I had citronella in my garden (a fairly useless plant), and a friend said "You'll never get rid of that!" In fact, I got rid of it with one good, hard tug.

[purplekat]

Autumn olive is a form of elaeagnus, the seeds of which are very good for protein and essential fatty acids, berries are also pretty good for you - seems to be a good plant for developing as a future food plant

http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/elaeagns.php