Here's a recipe for a berry you probably already have growing in your yard or the neighborhood!
Using wild Autumn Olive, or Russian Olive, berries, and maple syrup, I made these incredible fruit roll-ups. They often grow along road sides, and are considered an exotic invasive species. Just be sure your foraged berries aren't exposed to a lot of chemicals. Roadsides are usually sprayed with chemicals, or at minimum are exposed to vehicle exhaust. The farther from the road, the better. Here's a good photo of a bush, with more information.
You'll need a large saucepan, a food mill, and parchment paper.
Ingredients:
Autumn Olives
Maple Syrup
My neighborhood crew gathered about 8 quarts of berries, and I added about 1 cup of Fat Stone Farm Maple Syrup, amber.
Directions:
Gather the berries and let them sit for a while. Take out any large sticks or leaves, but don't worry about the small stuff. The food mill will hold it back from the final product. All the critters that make Autumn Olives their home will start crawling away.
Add a small amount of water to the bottom of a large saucepan, add the berries, and simmer until they are mostly disintegrated. This can take several hours, depending on how many berries you have. Don't turn the heat up too high or you'll scorch the bottom.
Turn the cooked berries out into a food mill and press the berries through. The stems, seeds, and skins will remain behind. Place the berry mush in a saucepan and add the maple syrup. You don't need to heat it up.
Line cookie sheets (preferably ones with sides) with parchment paper and ladle out the mixture until you have a thin, even layer of it. Here's a photo with 1 or 2 ladles of berry mixture, this pan could handle 8 total. Place it in an oven set to the lowest possible temperature. Mine goes down to 135 F and I use the 'convection' setting.
After several hours, check for doneness. The sheet of fruit should be slightly sticky -- no wet spots -- but not brittle. When it's done, remove from the oven and cut the entire thing (including parchment paper) into strips. Roll and tie if desired.
