Nanny Berry Pudding

We don't always find a place that has enough nanny berries to make it worth our while harvesting them. But this year, Ric found a number of bushes abundant with berries on his way back from one of our after school programs. For those of you who have never had Nanny berries, they are black/blue in color and have the taste and consistency of a prune. They have a fairly large flat seed in them making processing fairly tricky. They make a tasty fruit spread, but this year I made them into pudding and then poured the pudding while still hot over a warm, vanilla pound cake. It was really delicious so thought I better pass the recipe along.

- place berries in pan and just barely cover with water

- boil and then when soft and tender, mash them the best you can separating the pulp from the seeds.

- boil some more to reduce the water by about half.

- I then put it all in my food strainer and tried to get as much of the juice and pulp as I could by using the food strainer attachment for pumpkin. I would have liked to have had a lot more pulp, but ended up with a fair amount of a thick juice substance.

- I put the juice back on the stove, added just a little sugar, some vanilla, and about 1Tbs of flour for thickening. I could have used cornstarch but didn't have any on hand.

It made a dark, rich pudding that would have been wonderful served in small bowls with a bit of cream poured on the top. However, since I already had a pound cake in the oven, I poured the hot nanny berry pudding over the warm pound cake. YUM!

Autumn Olive Berry Jam

Every fall, Ric and I go in search of Autumn Olive Berries. They look similar to honeysuckle bushes, however, their red berries look as if they've been coated with glitter and their leaves are long and slender. Some say they are the next pomegranate because they are so high in antioxidants. One year we made fruit leather from the berries, but we prefer filling our shelves with jars of jam. It's so delicious, good for you and is a beautiful rose color. Here is how I make it.

-Place berries in a pot and fill with just enough water to barely cover the berries.

-Cook over heat until the berries become tender and are easy to mash.

After the berries have been heated and mashed, strain through a wire mesh strainer to remove seeds. I push some of the pulp through the strainer, which I wouldn't do if I was making jelly. But because I want to use as much of the berry as possible, I prefer

using the pulp and making jam, although it still has the consistency of jelly, just not the clarity.

-Measure the juice and then return to your pot and add 1 box of pectin for every 4 cups of juice.

-Bring to boil until pectin is fully dissolved.

-Add equal amount of sugar to juice and bring to boil once more stirring frequently.

-Pour hot jam into sterile jars and seal.

If a lot of foaming occurs while you cook the jam, add just a bit of butter to reduce the foam.

Enjoy this beautiful and yummy tasting jam on your warm bread and biscuits during the cold winter months.

Mary Lane's Fall Tonic

Fall is such a wonderful season as we gather and prepare plants, berries and nuts from the wild to support us during the winter months to come. My dining room table is covered with a variety of different herbs and flowers drying. Some are for adding to my fall and winter stews and homemade breads, others are for teas and salves that I will be making. And spread out across my drying rack are beans and squash seeds that I'm drying for next year's garden. It's such a great feeling!

I saw this fall tonic that Mary Lane, author of Divine Nourishment had on her most recent newsletter and I just had to pass it along. It's a wonderful combination of plants that make a truly supportive tonic. Here are the plants that she suggests using and if you want to know more about each plant, go to Fall Tonic where Mary offers a detailed description of each plant.

1 cup Nettles
1 cup Goldenrod
1/2 cup Lemon Verbena/or Lemon Balm
1/2 cup Mugwort
1 cup Mullein
1/4 Flax Seed

As Mary suggests, store this mixture in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid. When you are ready to use it, make an infusion steeped with boiling water for a nourishing cup of tea. Enjoy!