Here's my latest column:

Autumn olive is easier to dislike in theory than it is on the tongue.

Autumn olive, or Elaeagnus umbellata, is a big, bushy shrub that has spreading, thorny branches covered with oval green leaves that have silvery, speckled undersides — much like an olive tree.

In the spring, the bush has small, fragrant pale-yellow flowers, but by its fall fruiting season, it is full of small red berries covered in tiny silver dots.

Autumn olive is found all over Appalachia — especially along roadsides, old fields, forest edges and former mining areas.

But it wasn’t always that way.

It is native to China, Japan and Korea and was introduced to the U.S. around the 1830s in an effort to help the environment through a few different ways:

Erosion control: Autumn olive’s extensive roots helped stabilize disturbed soil, especially on strip-mined land, roadsides and slopes.

Reclaiming poor land: Autumn olive can thrive in poor soil because it fixes nitrogen, essentially improving soil fertility.

Wildlife habitat and food: Its abundant berries were promoted as food for birds and other wildlife, while its dense growth provided cover.

Fast revegetation: In Appalachia, where mining and other activities left large areas of stripped ground, a fast-growing, tough shrub seemed like an ideal way to make barren land green again.

Those same characteristics that made autumn olive valuable … now make it an invasive species.

The shrub produces enormous quantities of red berries. Birds eat them and disperse the seeds, allowing autumn olive to take over roadsides, fields, stream corridors and forest edges.

It can form dense thickets that crowd out native shrubs and alter the soil chemistry through nitrogen fixation.

What was once considered a useful conservation plant by government agencies and programs is now classified as a noxious weed.

But birds aren’t the only ones who developed a taste for those red berries. Appalachians have made do with what is available to them for ages — even if what’s available is an invasive shrub.

Autumn olive berries are usually tart, slightly sweet and a little astringent. The flavor is a mix of cranberry, sour cherry and tomato. The texture can become a bit mealy due to the tiny seeds. And, they are unusually high in lycopene, the antioxidant associated with tomatoes.

That makes these berries perfect for primarily jams and jellies, but also pies, cobblers, sauces, fruit leather, juice and syrups.

Autumn olive jam works anywhere you might use cranberry sauce, sour-cherry preserves or another fruit spread. Spread it on toast, biscuits, English muffins or cornbread, or use it as the fruity layer in a grilled cheese sandwich.

It’s particularly good with cheese; try it alongside a sharp cheddar, goat cheese, brie or a crumbly blue cheese on a cheeseboard. For breakfast, spoon it over pancakes, waffles, oatmeal or yogurt, or swirl it into a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

It can also become a glaze for roasted pork, chicken or duck, or be stirred into a vinaigrette for a salad with bitter greens, nuts and cheese.

Autumn olive was introduced to Appalachia to heal damaged landscapes — only to be a little too good for its own good.

Fortunately, Appalachians are good at making do, finding the good in what’s at hand and turning those tart little berries into something good — like a jar of jam.