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Edible Landscape

making jam and jelly with ornamental shrubs

19 years ago

I've read that the fruit of shrubs such as Highbush Cranberry (Viburnum opulus or V. trilobum); Sea Buckthorn; Silver Buffaloberry can be used for making jam or jelly. Has anyone used these fruits for that purpose? Would you share recipes? I should add that I'm a purist about this, and won't use commercial pectin such as Certo or Sure-jell.

I have used elderberry, cornelian cherry, and mahonia to make jelly,and they are excellent.

TIA

Into the Woods

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Comments (8)

larry_gene
19 years ago
I have also done elderberry (blue and red) and barberry jelly, they are excellent.

My attempt at Sea Buckthorn (seaberry) jelly had good body but I did not like the flavor, even though I drink seaberry juice by the gallon! I did not care for a commercial variety (Russian) either, my wife ate it! We will be making seaberry ice cream soon with juice from a new crop.

When making jam/jelly, I use the commercial pectin rather than boiling the snot out of the fruit--perhaps you use crabapples or other natural source of pectin?
Into_the_woods
Original Author
19 years ago
Hi Larry Gene,

Thanks for your answer. About the seaberry jelly - what didn't you like about the flavor compared to the juice that you like so much - was it too sweet?

That's the problem I have with using commercial pectin. The recipes often call for 7 or 8 cups of sugar for 4 or 5 cups of juice and the sweetness overwhelms the fruit's flavor IMHO.

I make my own pectin extract from sour apples or the white pith just under the rind on citrus fruit. Or I blend a high pectin fruit with one that's lower in pectin. Cranberry with raspberry for example. Or crabapples cooked together with the other fruit.

I just gathered 3 quarts of cornelian cherries on Tuesday - took all of 30 minutes, if that. Cooked them and collected the juice, and will be making some tasty jelly. That's one that jells easily.

Thanks again.

Into the Woods
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I haven't followed many of these recipe threads, inquiring minds want to know: What kind of chowdah can we hope C will bring? HINT noted, thus I'm not hijacking, much ;-) I'm talking a single combo jelly to be used as a condiment. Annette, You & I may well be the only 2 on this thread who have access to quince (I grow 'cuz it's a lovely shrub with forceable branches in late spring), the fruit has a high pectin content, so gels readily, but we will admit it's inedible on its own, too sour? Tart apples are also good. --Pepper Jelly-- Take your Paradise Jelly recipe & method, omit cranberries, add 2+ Tbsp minced jalapenos. (That's mild, I go 4 Tablespoons, a confessed hot-a-holic) Needless to say, but I will: wash hands thoroughly with soap after handling hot peppers, before rubbing eyes. Reduce sugar to 2-1/2 -3 cups (to taste, it's a savory). Some folks add 2 drops of green or red food coloring right before bottling, but I'm a purist. Expect only 4 cups; I do in 4 oz. jars. Good as a chicken baste. For cracker spread maybe 1 part jelly to 2 parts cream cheese. Variation: forget peppers, use lots of mint instead. Good on lamb. You've found me out: I'm a seat-of-the-pants cook when it comes to exact recipes except baking. I season to taste, keeping in mind that both sweet and hot flavors are more pronounced when made than when served cooler. Great tip about the string in paraffin, Annette: I now use the self-sealing lids, but used to wash the wax and reuse. Ana
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Sometimes printed recipes are helpful. Here, I use very few recipes and like the differences of each batch of anythng I make. In fact, sometimes I like to alter and add items to something like an apple jelly for a few jars that have cranberries or cherries added, or a few grinds of cinnamon and a few other spices. I am sure that someone will soon ask for the Apple Pie jam recipe.. If you lose the jam flaver, try adding a sprinkle of acid blend (malic, citric, and tarteric) as these can vastly improve a flat flavored jam. I even add it to stuff that has been canned and has lost some flavor over time. Just sprinkle a little and stir it in. I made a batch of crabapple jelly for my dad, but it was from the ornamental type crab apples. It didn't give much juice, so I just added a little apple juice concentrate and a little cranberry juice to give it a pink tinge. He didn't know the difference.
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marklee
19 years ago
Larry Gene,
What kind of barberries do you use for your jelly?
-Mark Lee, Seattle
larry_gene
19 years ago
_woods--I think my seaberry jelly was actually good for spreadability and it represented the fruit flavor accurately. My wife ate it and some syrup also. It's just a flavor that I didn't appreciate on food you normally put jam/syrup on--just my quirk.

Seaberry juice has little or no natural pectin judging by the results of an alcohol test for clumping.

marklee--I have used Oregon Grape (the upright variety, but it shouldn't matter). More recently I've used the fruit (juice) of Berberis darwinii (Darwin barberry) and find it to have a flavor akin to black currant. Plus, if the fruit dries, shrivels and falls from the bush, it tastes like little sweet raisins.
Into_the_woods
Original Author
19 years ago
Not all jelly or jam is good on toast. Cranberry juice is nice to drink, the jelly/ jam/ what-have-you is a standby with turkey, but putting cranberry jelly on an English muffin - just seems too tart/ sharp.

I used a Japanese species of mahonia, Mahonia bealii to make a delicious jelly. Failures include sumac - too bitter, and cactus pear - unimpressive. While rose hip jam/ fruit butter is great, I find rose petal jelly innocuously sweet. The difficult thing with roses is finding enough unsprayed, untreated flowers.
maryjopnes
17 years ago
do highbush cranberries have a lot of pectin in them or would it be wise to put some apples in with them.
karlavilla
17 years ago
Is Autumn Olive the same as Russian Olive? I want to make some jelly but I don't want to pick the wrong thing.
nicktexas
15 years ago
Larry Gene,
Where did you find the berberis darwinii fruit? Also, do you know where one can get arbutus unedo (strawberry tree) fruit?
Nick

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