“Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity.” – Democritus
The winds are shifting and I’m once again up in the canopy collecting the fruit of the Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellate). This is an invasive plant here in America. Whenever I hear the word “invasive”, I think “out of balance with the local ecology.” It’s out of balance because when it came here it didn’t come with the entire ecosystem that kept it in check. So it spreads out of control and often displacing native plants that native insects and other wildlife depend on. Its native habitat is in Asia where it is often called Silverberry. I have seen it spread throughout the under-story canopy of trees quite rapidly. However, it only seems to do that mainly in areas where the ground was once cleared of all vegetation. With the ground open and exposed the plant takes the opportunity to find a home for itself and in some ways is stabilizing the soil preventing erosion of valuable topsoil from washing away.
One of the interesting aspects of this plant is that it’s also a nitrogen-fixing plant which means the bacteria that associate with the roots of the plant are able to convert the nitrogen in the air and place it into the soil in a form that the plants can use. It’s a form of self-fertilization so it has the ability to grow even in poor soil. Many legumes like clovers have this ability too. Few people talk about the amazing healing and nutritional properties that come from these invasive ecologically destructive plants. It’s a different paradigm shift from the current trend of waging war against specific plants. After all, they are here to stay wherever they came from. And it may be one of the many ecological solutions to balance nature that we can actually participate in. I made some fruit roll-ups or fruit leathers recently from the berries of Autumn Olive that I collected at a place where it was growing. The branches were loaded with berries. The berries of this shrub are particularly of interest to me right now as they come into fruition. This is the time they spread too by wildlife who are eating the berries and depositing the seeds under the branches of the trees. So it seems to grow well in partly shaded areas. The fruit of this plant has a cranberry-like flavor that is both sweet and tart especially when they are fully ripe and when the autumn air is chilled which makes the berries sweeter. I will sometimes pop them right from the plant into my mouth they are so good. However, if they are not quite ripe they have strong astringent-like properties to them that feel like all the moisture in my mouth has been pulled out. And this may, in fact, might be a good thing for healing purposes. I imagine it might be good for sore throats and externally for skin wounds as well. The phytonutrients of this plant are amazing. Tomatoes are often touted for lycopene which is an important antioxidant that has many preventative qualities to protect our health from serious diseases. However, the fruit of Autumn Olive has even more than tomatoes, 15 to 17 times more lycopene than tomatoes. The berries also contain high levels of vitamins A, C, and E, and flavonoids and essential fatty acids. I can see why birds would enjoy them so. You can make jams and fruit drinks from the plant and in doing so you are helping to keep this plant in check more so than the wildlife which are spreading the plant seeds. It’s a fun way to keep nature in balance by participating and in the process connect with a local food source. After gathering the berries I sorted and cleaned them in with a vegetable wash soap. I also wanted to keep the recipe simple with only a few basic ingredients. I put them through a juicer to separate the seeds from the pulp. Then I added several bananas and apples to the autumn olive juice and blended them in a Vitamix. I poured the thick slurry onto trays and put them in the Excalibur Dehydrator at 117 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 hours. The results were fantastic. They had a tangy/sweet flavor that reminds me of cranberries or pomegranate. They were so good I ate the whole batch within a few hours. Some people say that Autumn Olive will be the new superfood of the future like Gogi or Acai berries. Using these plants for food and medicine is not a complete solution to keeping it in control but it may very well be part of it. In the meantime, I am enjoying the fruits of my labor in harvesting the berries and sharing the gifts from Mother Nature with my friends.
