Beauty Berry Jelly - Survival Manual

Beauty berry (Callicarpa americana)aka American Beauty Berry or French Mulberry ranges all across the Southeastern USA. But that doesn't mean they will occur everywhere in the Southeast. Like every plant they have particular habitats that they thrive in. Beauty berry prefers mover of an upland type habitat with pine than in the lowland hardwood areas. Beauty berry is quite common in managed pine forest but certainly not restricted to just that.

Beauty berry is a small bush or shrub. Identification is easy when the fruit is heavy on the bush. The plant will have hundreds of purplish pinkish to magenta small berries around in clusters that circle the stem.

The berries are the only significant food contribution from the plant and often the plant is found in great abundance. Significant quantities of the berries can be gathered quickly and easily.

The berries are edible raw but raw they are not all that appetizing. The only real way to utilize this plant as more than an incidental food source is to make the fruit into jelly. Surprisingly the crappy mostly bland taste of the fruit becomes quite palatable when made into jelly. Now it isn't my favorite jelly and if given the choice I would prefer to use this berry in conjunction with some other fruit to make jelly. Mix in grapes or blackberries for instance to extend those further.

Beauty Berry Jelly:Collect the berries. Cover with water and boil for 18-21 minutes Strain. Again bring the liquid to a boil and add pectin(pectin) and a lot of sugar! This takes more sugar than many other jellies. After adding sugar, boil for just a couple of minutes then remove from heat. As it cools skim off the foam and then pour into your jars.

If you don't have jelly making skills or sugar or equipment then all is not lost. Collect as many of the berries as you can and then spread them out to dry. Once dried keep in a dry area and you can use them as feed for chickens! I like chicken as much as jelly anyway! haha