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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] nafex Digest, Vol 68, Issue 17

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  • From: Hank Burchard <hank@burchard.org>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] nafex Digest, Vol 68, Issue 17
  • Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:43:18 -0400

Well, I guess my olfactory equipment is deficient! But Hector, I'm sorry to say that the USDA autumnberry project at Beltsville, although highly successful, has been abandoned. The principal investigator has left, his assistant has retired, and the plantation has been eradicated. I wrote to both of them seeking cuttings of their most successful cultivars, several of which apparently were spectacular producers, and was told none had been preserved (not even in a germ plasm repository!). When I wrote back asking the reason for this extraordinary, I received no reply.

Hank Burchard
Pecker Wood Farm
7b central Virginia

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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2008 17:24:29 -0500
From: "Hector Black" <hblack1925@fastmail.fm>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] alum in odorous Autumn olive?
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
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reply-type=original

One of my great pleasures in April is to walk among the trees and breathe in the fragrance of the autumn olives which are planted extensively through the orchard to fix nitrogen. A USDA study showed a 25-35% increase in growth in nut trees interplanted with autumn olive and we have replicated that in our orchard. Nut trees, not fruit trees which branch lower causing the autumn olive to interfere with sunlight, pruning, etc.
We also used the best cultivars (Hidden Springs) for jelly, I swallow the seeds, chew them as they don't seem to have much taste. For me the pucker, if there is any, disappears after the first couple of berries. They're also a beautiful sight on the bush, flowers a great source of honey, and foliage makes good forage for animals.
Below are the results of studies at the USDA in Beltsville on the nutritional content of the berries.
They can be invasive, but we mow the orchard which stops that.
Hector Black, zone 6 middle TN

Fordham's colleague, (at USDA Beltsville) Beverly Clevidence, analyzed the berries. Her analysis showed that, ounce for ounce, the typical autumn olive berry is up to 17 times higher in lycopene than the typical raw tomato (80-90 per cent of the US intake of this nutrient comes from tomatoes and tomato products).

"The red berries of autumn olive have a high carotenoid content," writes Fordham, "and particularly high levels of lycopene (30-70 mg/100g). Lycopene has powerful antioxidant properties, making it of interest for nutraceutical use."

The berries also contain high levels of vitamins A, C and E, and flavonoids and essential fatty acids. Lycopene is their main attraction, though. Lycopene, adds Clevidence, who heads ARS' Phytonutrients Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, has generated widespread interest as a possible deterrent to heart disease and cancers of the prostate, cervix and gastrointestinal tract.

US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Fruit Lab gave the fruit a new name (or an old name made new again) -- Autumnberry. They've opened an Autumnberry Research Lab. "A New Fruit for Processing: Autumnberry, Aki-gumi, or Autumn olive, they say, has "Organic Farming Possibilities." Requires little or no fertilizer. Easily harvested by hand or machine. Flavorful fruit, which can be:

consumed fresh

processed into jams, jellies and sauces

dried into fruit leather

And to top it off...An excellent source of the anti-oxidant lycopene! Rich source of carotenoids including: lycopene, phytoene, a- and ?-cryptoxanthin, and ?-carotene."

In Maryland USDA has begun testing managed plantings of the shrub, both cultivated varieties and wild types, for potential commercial fruit production. Annual productivity of autumn olive ranged from 9 to 35 pounds per plant.

"Mechanical harvesting was accomplished using a commercial blueberry harvester on plants that had been appropriately pruned." they said, adding: "Productivity under low-input management and the possibility for machine harvest indicate that autumn olive may be a commercially viable crop, especially on poor-quality land that may be unsuitable for other agricultural uses."

Published in PSA Rising, Prostate Cancer Survivor Support and News

"Autumn Olive - A Berry High in Licopene" by Jacqueline Strax







  • Re: [NAFEX] nafex Digest, Vol 68, Issue 17, Hank Burchard, 09/07/2008

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