Has anyone ever made jam from Schisandra berries?

I planted a few vines a decade or 2 ago as an herbal. I had read
how the berries had been used for a jelly that was fed to pilots
during WWII to help them utilize what little oxygen there was at their
altitudes .

I like the flavor of the fresh berries and the leaves, but I'd like to
make some jelly to put up.

I'd like to make it without commercial pectin, if possible & they
taste tart enough I might get away with that.

Lacking a recipe-- where would you jelly makers begin? Should
I start with equal amounts of sugar and cooked pulp and see what
happens?

I've probably got about a month and a bushel of schisandra berries to
play with.

Jim

"Jim Elbrecht" > ha scritto nel messaggio
> Has anyone ever made jam from Schisandra berries?

Should
> I start with equal amounts of sugar and cooked pulp and see what
> happens?


That will make jam. If you really want to make jelly, you must cook them
enough that the juices flow then suspend them in cheesecloth or a clean
muslin over a bowl to collect the juices. Then you can add sugar and boil
the juice up. Don't press out the juices or you will cloud the jelly.

Adding green apple ups the pectin, too.

On Aug 24, 4:23*am, Jim Elbrecht > wrote:
> Has anyone ever made jam from Schisandra berries?
>
> I planted a few vines a decade or 2 ago as an herbal. * * I had read
> how the berries had been used for a jelly that was fed to pilots
> during WWII to help them utilize what little oxygen there was at their
> altitudes * * * * * * * .
>
> I like the flavor of the fresh berries and the leaves, but I'd like to
> make some jelly to put up.
>
> I'd like to make it without commercial pectin, if possible & they
> taste tart enough I might get away with that.
>
> Lacking a recipe-- where would you jelly makers begin? * * * * Should
> I start with equal amounts of sugar and cooked pulp and see what
> happens?
>
> I've probably got about a month and a bushel of schisandra berries to
> play with. *
>
> Jim

I am completely unfamiliar with schisandra berries so I started
googling them. I'm impressed and wish
I had a vine.

http://www.herbalist.com/wiki.details/159/category/8/

In this article it says the berries are dried and used as
medicinals. I bet you could dehydrate some and
use them in muffins or breads.

On Wednesday, August 24, 2011 9:10:50 AM UTC-5, ImStillMags wrote:
> On Aug 24, 4:23*am, Jim Elbrecht > wrote:
> > Has anyone ever made jam from Schisandra berries?
> >
> > I planted a few vines a decade or 2 ago as an herbal. * * I had read
> > how the berries had been used for a jelly that was fed to pilots
> > during WWII to help them utilize what little oxygen there was at their
> > altitudes * * * * * * * .
> >
> > I like the flavor of the fresh berries and the leaves, but I'd like to
> > make some jelly to put up.
> >
> > I'd like to make it without commercial pectin, if possible & they
> > taste tart enough I might get away with that.
> >
> > Lacking a recipe-- where would you jelly makers begin? * * * * Should
> > I start with equal amounts of sugar and cooked pulp and see what
> > happens?
> >
> > I've probably got about a month and a bushel of schisandra berries to
> > play with. *
> >
> > Jim
>
> I am completely unfamiliar with schisandra berries so I started
> googling them. I'm impressed and wish
> I had a vine.
>
> http://www.herbalist.com/wiki.details/159/category/8/
>
> In this article it says the berries are dried and used as
> medicinals. I bet you could dehydrate some and
> use them in muffins or breads.

....or even put them in trail mix.

N.

ImStillMags > wrote:

>On Aug 24, 4:23*am, Jim Elbrecht > wrote:
>> Has anyone ever made jam from Schisandra berries?
>>
>> I planted a few vines a decade or 2 ago as an herbal. * * I had read
>> how the berries had been used for a jelly that was fed to pilots
>> during WWII to help them utilize what little oxygen there was at their
>> altitudes * * * * * * * .
>>
>> I like the flavor of the fresh berries and the leaves, but I'd like to
>> make some jelly to put up.
>>
>> I'd like to make it without commercial pectin, if possible & they
>> taste tart enough I might get away with that.
>>
>> Lacking a recipe-- where would you jelly makers begin? * * * * Should
>> I start with equal amounts of sugar and cooked pulp and see what
>> happens?
>>
>> I've probably got about a month and a bushel of schisandra berries to
>> play with. *
>>
>> Jim
>
>I am completely unfamiliar with schisandra berries so I started
>googling them. I'm impressed and wish
>I had a vine.

Mine were very slow to get going and produce some berries-- but
they've gone crazy the last few years. Cultivation is about as
simple as it gets. Just give them something to climb on. [even a
tree will work-- they like some shade.] Deer, squirrels, rabbits
and bugs don't seem to know that they are edible.

>
>http://www.herbalist.com/wiki.details/159/category/8/
>
>In this article it says the berries are dried and used as
>medicinals. I bet you could dehydrate some and
>use them in muffins or breads.

I've dried a few from time to time-- and although better than the
dried ones I've bought in healthfood stores, they are still pretty
much little BBs. the healthfood store ones that I've found were
tasteless BBs-- mine retain a little flavor and I've managed to keep
some more by 1/2 dehydration and then freezing.

They [mine anyway] have a fairly tough skin and large seeds in
comparison to the pulp. And the flavor always seems to be *so*
much better when fresh. I was hoping I could keep the flavor level &
just make them easier to store.

Jim

"Giusi" > wrote:

>
>"Jim Elbrecht" > ha scritto nel messaggio
>> Has anyone ever made jam from Schisandra berries?
>
> Should
>> I start with equal amounts of sugar and cooked pulp and see what
>> happens?
>
>
>That will make jam. If you really want to make jelly, you must cook them
>enough that the juices flow then suspend them in cheesecloth or a clean
>muslin over a bowl to collect the juices. Then you can add sugar and boil
>the juice up. Don't press out the juices or you will cloud the jelly.

I think I want to stay with jam as I'm more interested in the health
benefits than appearance.
>
>Adding green apple ups the pectin, too.
>

Guess I didn't need *that*.<g> For future reference I might throw
a few schisandra berries in to a pectin-less juice.

Thanks-
Jim

On Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:23:25 -0400, Jim Elbrecht >
wrote:

>Has anyone ever made jam from Schisandra berries?

-snip-
>
>Lacking a recipe-- where would you jelly makers begin? Should
>I start with equal amounts of sugar and cooked pulp and see what
>happens?

Batch #1 is done. I figured I'd do the quickest way first.
5 cups berries- still on the stem- just cleaned and rinsed.
Boiled for a minute in 1/2 cup of water to soften.
Ran through the strainer to yield 2 cups juice.
[it was starting to gel already, so I quit worrying about pectin, and
didn't add the apple juice I was going to use]
Gave it 1 1/2 cups sugar.
Boiled 5 minutes on med-low.
Dumped and scraped quickly into a jar-- by the time I got the pot
cleaned out it was all set up on the spatula.

The taste is good-- but there is a bitter flavor that I've other folks
complain of when tasting the berries. I don't taste it in the
berries-- but it is here in the jam.

Next batch I'll try stripping them from the stems before macerating.
and I think I'll add water and make more of a marmalade with seeds and
skins remaining. That should eliminate the stems as a source of the
bitterness.

Any other thoughts on removing or compensating for the bitterness?

Jim

In article >,
Jim Elbrecht > wrote:

> Has anyone ever made jam from Schisandra berries?
>
> I planted a few vines a decade or 2 ago as an herbal. I had read
> how the berries had been used for a jelly that was fed to pilots
> during WWII to help them utilize what little oxygen there was at their
> altitudes .
>
> I like the flavor of the fresh berries and the leaves, but I'd like to
> make some jelly to put up.
>
> I'd like to make it without commercial pectin, if possible & they
> taste tart enough I might get away with that.
>
> Lacking a recipe-- where would you jelly makers begin? Should
> I start with equal amounts of sugar and cooked pulp and see what
> happens?
>
> I've probably got about a month and a bushel of schisandra berries to
> play with.
>
> Jim

Are you making jelly or jam? If you're making jelly, you need to cook
the fruit and strain it for the juice. Look he
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_07/...ut_pectin.html

And this may help with jam (crushed fruit).
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_07/...ut_pectin.html
--
Barb,
http://web.me.com/barbschaller August 24, 2011