Buffalo berries, beyond disgusting...

11 years ago

Ah, so much promise. I had tried these at the Devonian fruit-tasting a couple years ago, and they were unbelievably sour then in early-to-mid September. But I sampled some a day or two ago (October 7) in rural Alberta and was surprised to find them far tastier and the sourness mellowed to the point of being quite enjoyable.

With that in mind, I set out today to collect enough to make Buffalo-berrry jelly. Collecting the berries was not a problem, since I know an area where the city has made Buffalo-berry plantings, and hey, who else collects the berries? So a quick picking yielded a quart of buffalo berries, enough to experiment with making jelly. Alas, what happened next is really nasty....

The berries, cleaned and washed, ready for juice extraction:

The extracted juice, after hanging the simmered berries in a jelly-bag:

Ugh, too disturbing...

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Comments (9)

Konrad___far_north
11 years ago
I don't see anything disturbing,..is it color?
wayne
11 years ago
If I remember correctly I think that they were used as a flavoring in pemmican, hard to say how delightful that was to eat. I have tried to eat the berries from some of my cranberry cultivars after a good freeze, yuk, but I don't mind the wild ones, they still send a shudder through my body but they make good popsicles when I'm in the bush.
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northspruce
11 years ago
It looks like lemon curd. LOL
Sorry for your wasted efforts. I had a similar experience with crazy sour blackberries when I lived in England. Spent all day on them and 3 lbs of sugar.
don555
Original Author
11 years ago
Konrad, not just the colour, the fact that it is so milky/cloudy. If I'm making jelly from bright red berries, I expect the juice to be red or pink and crystal clear, not white and milky. And if I could put a scratch 'n sniff up, that would add a whole new dimension to distrubing. The fresh berries are nice. The juice extract is not.
Konrad___far_north
11 years ago
That's interesting, I can see it now, how do the berries taste?
shillanorth Z4 AB
11 years ago
My mom used to make Buffalo Berry jelly all of the time. We always picked the berries after a good frost and it was delicious on toast. Sorry I can`t offer any suggestion as to why yours looks and smells the way it does.
don555
Original Author
11 years ago
After a hard frost has mellowed them, the fresh berries are a bit tart but in a pleasant way, and refreshing. Hard to describe the taste but it's nothing really distinctive, just pleasantly tart and refreshing. Kind of like highbush cranberry, but better.

I followed a jelly recipe from an edible-wild book that noted that the juice extract was going to be milky, but I guess I didn't really believe it and was shocked at the result. Not something for me.
donna_in_sask
11 years ago
Weird how the red berry skins didn't impart at least a tinge of colour to the pressed juice.
Konrad___far_north
11 years ago
Agree,
Did you steamed them,..perhaps grinding them up first, [if no seeds]?.. might get some color in it?