Hackberry Harvest

Before my parents moved in, Breezy started selling stuff left behind by the previous owner on Facebook Marketplace. One day my friend Hannah went to buy something and recognized Breezy. She also recognized the plethora of Hackberry bushes lining my parent's driveway. Naturally, we had to do a harvest!

 

I thought our army of children would gather up a big bowl in no time, but they were deterred by the thorns. Hannah developed a technique for whacking the bush with a stick to get the berries to fall onto her picnic blanket. A bunch of leaves fell with the berries, so we put them in a big bowl of water to separate out the berries which sank from the debris that floated. 

We tried a couple of recipes from my 'Eat Mesquite and More' cookbook. The first was hackberry milk, which was a fun color with a little bit of spices. The hackberry jam was a bigger hit. I love how orange they both are- I'll be wanting to make this every October for a fun Halloween desert snack!

Andrew was visiting for his fall break. We got his stamp of approval.

This is the only Jam we have ever made that has Aaron's stamp of approval as well. He was delighted by the high fiber content. The seeds make it crunchy which is different from normal jam texture, but I like it!

Andrew and I decided to try to make quail egg eyeballs for another Halloween snack. The hole punch black paper definitely looks the best. Hole punched basil leaf is my second choice. Sadly, the Quail stopped laying eggs shortly after this. My lady hens are getting old!