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If you’d like to read more about Maypops (Pap called them wild apricots) go here.
Tipper
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Hi Tipper, Out here on the West Coast of B.C. Canada it’s salal berries and Oregon grapes that most of us have growing in our yard to make Jelly from. The “grapes” are EXTREMELY sour so unless you get a good haul of them it’s not worth making jelly because of the amount of sugar you use. We have a tiny red huckleberry out here that makes a nice jelly substitute for cranberry jelly. Very good with smoked duck. I finally located the manual for my electric smoker online and will be smoking up a bunch of things over summer, including trout.
I’m with Ed Ammons. We used to throw them on the concrete driveway to make them pop open, and eat them if they were nice and ripe. I thought that’s how they got the name maypop, too. Never heard them called wild apricots. Mostly I would pick the flowers and make ballerinas out of them.
The best jelly I ever “made” was when I had wild Concord grapes growing on vines by my house and a friend said she’d love to have some to make jelly with so I said come along and pick as many as you like. She left with a big sack full, and I didn’t think anything more about it til one day she brought me a jar of her Concord grape jelly. It was so pretty, just like your jelly – doesn’t jelly look like edible jewels?
Do you happen to know the botanical name of your maypop plant? It may be something that doesn’t grow as far north as Massachusetts, but if it does I’d like to try to find it. I figured out the ID of your yellowroot plant and found that it is supposed to be growing up here, but I’ve never yet found it, so maybe the maypop is here too and I just need to keep my eyes open more!
Quinn-you can see the variety that grows here at this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora_incarnata We can send you some seeds if you want to try growing it-let us know 🙂
Ken, I love the story about Andy!
We have picked them and made jelly out of them. Great tasting jelly. My family always called them wild apricots. I think they are better tasting after it frosts on them. Thanks for all the information you give us. We love your Blind Pig and the Acorn site.
Tipper,
Daddy use to take me and Harold Posseum Hunting up above the house when it got dark. Ole Andy, a boy pig, went with us. That sucker thought he was a dog, he hung out with them more than he did other Pigs. But while we were waiting of the fiests to tree, me and Harold would eat our belly full of wild apricots.
When Daddy would come in from work, the fiests greeted him, afterwards Daddy would ask “where you at Andy?” Ole Andy would come out from under the floor and put his front hoofs on daddy, just like the fiests would, and wanted him to scratch his back, too.
You get to see so many things, when you live on a Farm. …Ken
I’m not familiar with Maypops. Are they good to eat? How’s the jam?
Miss Cindy-yes and good!
Never heard of these before but that jelly sure looks good.
We used to have jerusalem artichokes at our place up on Wiggins Creek. I think it is the same plant. They grew wild. We knew that people ate them but I can’t ever remember eating them ourselves.
This was meant to be a reply to Ron Stephens.
I’ve never heard of them and I thought a passion flower was a tropical plant. I’m glad I learned somethng new today.
What a refreshing post! I applaud a young Appalachian girl staying true to her roots. More and more young people seem to show an interest in the skills once enjoyed; at least YouTube is filled with their channels showing how to do many of the skills once enjoyed.
This small jar of Maypop jelly had to require a lot of patience and time. I could not have been over 8 when I walked down a country road and picked something they called May apples. I am not familiar with Maypops nor wild apricots, and am not sure if they grow in our area which is a bit cooler.
Hey im into jelly, as kids we used them for hand granads.
My Sister had some growing in her yard on a fence, but she only grew them for their beauty. I have never known anyone that made jelly out of them. Does the jelly have a lemon flavor?
AW-no the jelly has more of a tropical note to it. Pineapple comes to mind but that’s not quite it either.
I call them wild apricots and maypops too. I’ve tried to eat them but didn’t like them. The best use I found was to stomp them. If you get them when they are just right they will pop like a mini grenade. I thought that’s why they were called maypops. The may pop and they may not.
Maypop jelly, a new one on me. Only way I’ve ever eaten them is just off the vine. My Dad called them maypops to. I have them come up along my garden fence and I just let them climb on it. But since you remind me, I have not noticed any this year.
To me maypops would make a good ‘maypopade’. Let us know how the jelly turns out.
Btw, any of you all grow ‘artichokes’, what is also called ‘sunchokes’? I was given some tubers this year and I planted them along the garden fence. They grew to about 8 feet tall and had nice yellow blooms, at least the stalks the deer couldn’t reach did. They ate the others off even though the leaves feel like sandpaper.
I have too many sunchokes. I’ve been growing them for years and they never stay where I put them so each of my 4 garden areas now has sunchokes. When you cook them DO NOT put the peels in the compost pile or you’ll have them growing there. It may sound wasteful but unless you want them to grow somewhere. Just BURN the peels!