How to Forage for Autumn Olive

How would you rather spend your Sunday filling buckets with free, lycopene-laden, sweet and tart-tasting fruit or lugging around a hatchet and sprayer full of herbicide? I know “if you can’t beat her, eat her” is used too liberally in scenarios where it’s just not feasible, but in the case of Autumn Olive it really could be, and it’ll just be tasty to try.

autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), is not difficult to find due to its low-maintenance nature. It was introduced to North America from Asia in the early 1800s for all sorts of reasons, mainly erosion control, soil reclamation, and wildlife habitat, all of which were so good that it made its way from “helpful newcomer” to “pest.” in no time.

It thrived everywhere except in the desert of the Southwest and the high, arid prairies, with grasslands and “wastelands” experiencing greatest abundance in the eastern half of the country. It has a propensity to take root in depleted soils and recently devastated locations, so you’ll find it more often near urban, suburban, or agricultural locations than outdoors in mature woodland areas.

It tolerates poor soils because it fixes atmospheric nitrogen through nodules on its roots, which in many environments, such as an orchard, is really beneficial to the plants around it because it makes nitrogen accessible that would otherwise be unavailable to the surrounding trees . However, in a prairie or grassland environment, where native plants are adapted to and thrive in poor soil, this excess nitrogen creates a new environment that is less hospitable to existing native species and gives competing non-natives an advantage. All of this to say, it’s complicated, it’s situational whether or not autumn olives are beneficial to a place, but what isn’t situational is the benefit of eating all the fruit.

In late summer to late fall, keep an eye out for medium to large sized shrubs with a lustrous metallic sheen at your local field edge, windbreak, hedge, and vacant lot. This is the best way I’ve found to spot autumn olives from afar, especially on a windy day, as the undersides of the leaves are shinier than the tops and a wind flaps them, catching the light.

As you get closer, you should see that the leaves are simple and ovate with a pointed tip, smooth, wavy edges, and are arranged alternately on the branches. The alternate leaves are an important distinguishing feature that distinguishes fall olive from similar-looking shrubs such as bush honeysuckle and buffaloberry.

The bark is grey/brown with the young twigs having the same silvery metallic texture as the undersides of the leaves. Large, very sharp thorns are usually present on the branches, particularly on younger plants, but this is variable.

Autumn olives bloom from April to June, depending on the region, with intoxicatingly sweet-scented, cream to yellow, tubular flowers. For most of the summer, after the flowers are pollinated, there are tiny, hard, green fruits that don’t seem to grow at all until one day they’re all swollen and turning from green to orange to red.

The fruit, renamed “fall berries” to make it more popular as a food, begins ripening as early as late August and into November, depending on region and weather. Autumn olives are notoriously heavy fruit bearers, so once ripe you should be able to spot the branches laden with clusters of red autumn berries from a distance. The fruit is mottled with the same silvery scales as the undersides of the leaves and has only a soft seed inside.

It’s best to wait until the fruit is fully ripe to lighten the strong astringency that young, unripe fruit has. The fruit should be soft, red (not orange), and easily detach from the stalk. Here in Maine, I typically harvest in September and October, and the fruits are noticeably sweeter, less astringent, and detach cleanly from the stem after being hit by frost.

The other benefit of picking after a frost is that many of the leaves will have fallen off, meaning they won’t fall into your basket, making sorting your berries much quicker. I like to collect in either a large cherry picking bucket from an orchard supplier or in a large, wide, flat box that sits on the ground. I grab a branch in my left hand and from where the fruit starts to the top, I roll gently but briskly, rubbing off the fall berries with my right hand. It’s not uncommon to collect twenty pounds, and often many more, from a shrub, so get out your big baskets for that!

I love them in bunches when I pick them, they remind me so much of pomegranate seeds, but aside from munching in the field, fall berries are one of my favorite fruits for preserves. They have a flavor most other fruits can’t match, stunning color, and a truly dreamy texture.

I like to run them through a food mill which they pass lightly to give you a smooth puree. This puree can be used as a base for so many things, savory or sweet. If you cover the puree and let it sit in the fridge for a day, the juice will naturally separate from the pulp. Despite its clear color, this juice is a nectar of the gods. The taste will make your jaw drop.

The pulp of the autumn berries has a very tomato-like quality. Myself, a loyal Heinz girl, I can’t resist using fall berries for a great ketchup, an even better barbecue sauce, and a meat glaze that pleases the crowd.

The puree can also be used to prepare sweets like jam, sorbet, smoothies, sauces, applesauce and my favorite fruit leather. There is no better and easier to make treat than fruit leather on the planet. And nothing makes you feel like a happy kid like pulling homemade fall berry fruit leather out of your hunting backpack to snack on while you wait for your next harvest.