Autumn Olive Juice - Traditional Juicing Method

gallon of autumn olive juice (photo by jhy)

You will need:

• Autumn Olive berries- any amount, probably at least a quart to make the work worthwhile
• sugar or sugar substitute to taste

gallon of autumn olive berries (photo by jhy)

Wash the berries (see Harvesting Autumn Olive), removing woody twigs, leaves, and other unwanted items. From this gallon of berries I removed three Asian Lady Bugs, a Cutworm, and a Stinkbug. None of those would have improved the flavor of the juice. However, you don't need to bother removing the small gray stems from each berry.

Place your berries in a large kettle with about an equal amount of water. This doesn't have to be measured very accurately, but you want to leave plenty of space above the level of water in your kettle. Bring the berries to a boil.

boiling autumn olive berries (photo by jhy)

My kettle is too full! As the berries began to cook, they float, and this boiled over before I could catch it.

Simmer for about 30 minutes. Skim off any foam with a metal spoon. Let this cool until it's a temperature you can handle, but the warmer the better.

autumn olive pulp in a jelly bag (photo by jhy)

Squeeze through a jelly bag until the pulp is quite dry.

As you can see, the resulting juice is a milky pink. This looks funny, but doesn't taste bad. I added a little bit of sugar, but it didn't need much. This can be added strictly to your own taste. If you really want a red color, you'll need to add food coloring.

I tried this method instead of the Cold Pack Autumn Olive Juice method because I was hopeful of getting a more tart flavor. The berries are pleasantly tart, but the cold pack juice method yields a juice that is very much like fruit punch. I was disappointed that this method does the same thing. The tartness must be all in the skins, and is not released even with the cooking the way it is with grapes.

Store in the refrigerator for quick use, or process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, for longer storage. See

Freezing Autumn Olive Berries

autumn olive berries after being frozen (photo by jhy)

You will need: autumn olive berries picked after first frost, any amount
a cookie sheet or tray with edges
space in your freezer to lay the tray flat
freezer bags

The preparation for freezing is a bit time consuming, but you can do a bowl full while watching TV or something. It's quite mindless. I think the flavor is worth it.

Collect autumn olive berries after the first frost. You can continue to collect them until they begin to be soft and mushy.

I don't wash the berries because you want them to be completely dry, and they don't get dirty on the bushes. You can throw out any that concern you when you pick them over. Remove all the little gray stems, and any debris from your collection efforts. This is the tedious part. Discard any berries that are shriveled or hard. Your goal is berries that will be eaten raw.

autumn olive berries ready for the first freezing (photo by jhy)

Place berries on a cookie sheet or other metal tray with a lip, in one layer. Don't spread them more than one layer deep. Put the tray of berries in the freezer, uncovered for about a day. This will freeze the berries solid, but they will still be loose, not clumped together or squashed.

frozen packet of autumn olive berries (photo by jhy)

Remove berries from the tray and double bag. Label and return to the freezer. The berries pictured in the bag are what is left of the ones I froze last year, and they are still loose and perfectly good to use.

I like to use these as a garnish on yogurt or salad. I think the flavor is particularly nice on salad and the slight crunch of the seeds is masked by the crunch of the salad. I just open the bags and take out what I want, then press the air out of the bags, reseal and place it back in the freezer.

Cold Pack Easy Autumn Olive Juice

autumn olive juice right after processing (photo by jhy)

You will need: autumn olive berries- 1 c for each quart
3/8 c. sugar, or 1/8 c sugar and 1/4 c sugar substitute for each quart
quart canning jars
lids, rings
canner
jar lifter, potholders, etc

This method of making juice does not result in a beverage you can drink immediately, but it's incredibly easy. You have to wait a few months to drink the juice. When I discovered that autumn olive berries were edible, I had to try this, and the results are very much like a fruit punch.

I've used this method of making juice with several different kinds of fruit, but this post will focus on autumn olive. It is very easy, and doesn't require much work.

Wash and sterilize as many quart jars as you think you will need. You can cover with a clean towel and let them rest until you have the fruit ready.

You'll need one cup of clean autumn olive berries for each quart. Try to remove the small gray stems, but it won't matter if you miss a few. Most of them probably came off when you stripped the berries from the trees. See Harvesting Autumn Olive

autumn olive berries and sweetener, before adding boiling water (photo by jhy)

Set water to boil- enough to fill all the jars you plan to use. Then, in each quart jar put 1 c of berries and 3/8 c of sweetener. This can be all sugar, or part sugar and part substitute. I have not tried it with all sugar substitute, but it would probably work since there is no texture issue in this recipe as there is with baking.

Fill jars with boiling water, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Clean rim, put on lids and rings. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath. See basic instructions for hot water bath canning. canning.

a glass of autumn olive juice with the berries crushed slightly to release some color (photo by jhy)

The just-processed juice will be clear to translucent. When the jars have cooled, remove rings and place the juice in a pantry or somewhere to store for at least three months before opening. Over this time, the juice will develop.

When you are ready to open the jars, the juice will still be almost clear. I found that crushing the fruit just a bit, to release some of the red coloring, makes a more attractive juice, although the taste is the same.

Strain and remove the remaining fruit. The juice is then ready to drink.

Harvesting Autumn Olive

Autumn Olive berries are edible and delicious if they are harvested after the first hard frost. This causes the sugar to move into the fruit. Watch the video for a demonstration of picking the berries.

Plant identification post coming soon.