A local lady showed me a blue/grey berry growing close to the ground. Since the nights are cooler, the leaves of the plant are starting to turn red. She called them Oregon Grapes. Does anyone have any experience with these? Although very tart, she had made a jam out of them that was delicious. She also said that you could harvest the yeast off the berries for making bread, etc. but she did not know how to do this. Does anyone know?

New to this forum and new to Northwest Montana. Looks like to me there is at least one other person on this forum from this area. Would be interested in hearing from anyone in the area.

Thanks!

-- Tammy Hall (gregandtammy@interbel.net), September 05, 2000

Answers

Sally Fallon has a recipe for natural yeast bread in her book "Nourishing Traditions". For just the info on the yeast from grapes she says:

2 cups grapes, preferably organic, well washed and processed into a pulp.

Place 2 cups grape pulp and 2 cups freshly ground whole wheat or rye flour in a clean bowl. Mix well, cover with a clean towel and let stand in a warm place. On day two transfer to a clean bowl and add 1 cup rye or wheat flour and 1 cup filtered water. Mix well, cover and let stand in a warm place. On day three transfer to a clean bowl and add the the final cup of rye or wheat flour, and 1 cup water. Mix well, cover and let stand in a warm place for 24 hours. Starter is now ready. You should have about 5 cups. Use 4 cups for making bread and save 1 cup in a jar in the refrigerator for a new batch of starter.

To make bread, combine 7 cups flour with 4 cups starter, 1 tablespoon sea salt and about 1 1/2 cups water. Mix well with a wooden spoon or with your hands. To knead, process in two different batches in food processor and place each batch in a well buttered loaf pan. Cover and let rise 7 hours or overnight. Bake at 300 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours.

She says this will make a heavy bread. It can be made lighter by using part white flour.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), September 12, 2000.

Tammy,

Did you ever find any answer to your question about how to make jelly from Oregon Grapes? I just spent the last hour searching the web for the same thing when I came across your inquiry. If you found any answer, I would appreciate it if you could direct me to the source.

Thank you.

Jim Baker

-- Jim Baker (bamajim@hotmail.com), August 01, 2001.

Yeah, they are the state flower here. They aren't grapes at all, of course, but ht fruit looks sort of like grapes. Definately edible.

JOJ

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@ecoweb.net), August 01, 2001.