permaculture

[Rick Valley <bamboogrove@cmug.com>]

> hey graham, if you get a submission for an eleagnus recipe, could you post
> it?  my bushes are FULL of fruit right now.

How about this- it's my own invention. I cook lots, done that restaurant
thing, and was reading Euell Gibbons in 8th grade- I think I was channeling
Bro' Euell on this one.

Strip a big pot worth of fruit off the Autumn Olive bushes afap (as fast as
possible)
Put a half cup/cup of water in a pot. Cover, bring to a boil, add the fruit,
recover, then as soon as the cover is warm to the touch, open, stir, remove
from heat, and using a Foley Food Mill, separate the pulp from the seeds.
This is easy and quick. The seedy mash could become the start of a fruit
vineagar. Or poultry would probably relish the seeds. The pulp can be used
for all sorts of recipes directly or frozen or canned for later.
I used it directly as the base of a merengue pie. The color was an outrage,
the pie did not survive very long at all. (well, it WAS a party) And the
Eleagnus fruit is very beneficial to the human organism, no doubt full of
anti-accidents & who knows? All in all, in terms of a ratio of time & effort
for harvest & processing vs. results, I'd put it up there at the head of the
list. It was a piece of cake- or pie.

-Rick 
in Benton CO. Oregon, where the Autumn olive is leafing out.