Autumn Olive Berry Review
Autumn Olive Berry has been called one of the best-kept secrets in the world of wild berries. Find out what makes autumn olive such a popular berry today!
What is Autumn Olive Berry?
Autumn Olive Berries are the fruits of a large shrub/small tree called the Elaeagnus umbellate. The tree features fragrant yellow flowers, green leaves, and distinctive-looking red fruit.
The fruits themselves are mottled with little silver specks, making them instantly noticeable to the trained outdoorsman. The shrub can be found growing naturally throughout the eastern United States, including as far north as Maine, as far south as Alabama, and as far west as Wisconsin.
Many people are surprised to discover how tasty the fruit can be. When picked at the perfect time, the fruit is incredibly ripe, juicy and flavorful.
But autumn olive berry is prized for more than just its tart flavor: in recent years, nutritional scientists have discovered that the plant has some unique health benefits.
In addition to a blend of vitamins and minerals, autumn olive berry is found to have extraordinarily high levels of lycopene.
Lycopene is the pigment that gives tomatoes their distinctive red color. But it’s more than just a coloring agent: it’s a powerful antioxidant that has been linked to strong health benefits.
Most of us get our lycopene from tomatoes and tomato products – one study showed that 80% to 90% of US intake of lycopene comes from tomatoes alone. Autumn olive berry has an astounding 17 times more lycopene than tomatoes, which makes it one of the world’s best plant-based sources of the antioxidant. It contains about 30 to 70 mg of lycopene in an average 100 gram serving.
In addition to lycopene, autumn olive berry also has high carotenoid content. As this paper shows, we know that carotenoids are intricately linked to human health, but we don’t know exactly how they work.
Benefits of Autumn Olive Berry
— Good For Prostate Health (Lycopene Is Associated With A Reduced Risk Of Prostate Cancer)
— High Levels Of Valuable Vitamins, Including Vitamins A, C, And E
— High Levels Of Other Nutrients, Including Flavonoids And Essential Fatty Acids
How to Use Autumn Olive Berry
— Eat It As A Fresh Berry
— Process It Into A Jam, Jelly, Or Sauce
— Dry It And Eat It As A Fruit Leather Snack
How to Buy Autumn Olive Berry
Remember at the top of the page how I mentioned that autumn olive berry is one of the world’s best kept berry secrets? That means it’s tough to buy from major retailers or online shops.
Instead, your best option is to buy from local growers. Or, if you’re based in the United States, try to find good autumn olive berry bushes on hiking trails and pick the plants yourselves.
There aren’t currently any major autumn olive berry supplements or autumn olive berry distributors on the market. As the berry gets more and more publicity, however, then that may change.
One of the major things holding back autumn olive berry at this point is that it’s strictly regulated by the USDA. Many states classify autumn olive berry as a noxious weed or invasive species, which means mass cultivation or growing is difficult.
The USDA just recently began testing managed plantings of autumn olive shrubs, including both cultivated plants and wild types, with the expectation that the plants will be used for fruit harvesting.
Depending on the outcome of that Maryland test, we could see more autumn olive plants being grown across America, which means more people will be able to enjoy the health benefits of autumn olive berry.
