Rowan season's started!

 Rowan trees are in full fruit locally. This is an under-appreciated and underused fruit which is abundant every year. It can be used to make jelly or jam, fruit leather and vitamin C syrup for the winter months to mention but a few uses. It also makes an easy-to-make wine which is my preferred use. 

Now there are a few things to know before going out to pick your fruit. The wild variety found around the UK can be very bitter in flavour but I discovered that this is very much individual tree dependant. Also in the UK many of the Rowan trees have been planted by local authorities, who often source an Asian variety which varies in fruit colour from yellow to red. The reason being it is cheaper than UK-grown specimens. The benefit to us is that the Asian varieties tend not to be bitter at all. 

So the first thing to do is taste the berries from the tree before collecting your desired harvest. If sour and sweet, go ahead and pick as much as is needed though leaving enough for the local wildlife.

Sometimes a little bitterness is quite pleasant like many commercial drinks are. If your local berries are bitter collect and freeze a cupful, freezing or waiting till the first frost sometimes reduces the bitterness to an acceptable level. Defrost and taste to see if they are palatable.

To make one gallon (4.54lt) of wine:

500g Rowan berries, stalks removes and washed

1 kg sugar

1 tsp yeast

Water

5lt Demijohn and airlock

Put the sugar in a pot on the stove and add 1lt water. 

Bring to a boil and stir till the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to below 32 deg C.

Take the fruit and add a litre of water and using a stick blender, blend till all the fruit is pureed.

Pour the fruit puree into the demijohn then add the dissolved sugar liquid.

Add a tsp of dried yeast then top the demijohn up to the shoulder with cold water.

Shake or stir to mix well then put the airlock on.

Put in a warm room, kitchen or airing cupboard and leave for a week.

After a week has passed, shake well then pour through a sieve into a suitable container to remove the fruit pulp.

Pour the liquid back into the demijohn and top up with water to the shoulder again. 

Mix or shake and replace the airlock.

Leave to ferment out for about three weeks till it has stopped bubbling and cleared.

Rack off into bottles, cap or cork then leave to mature (or not ☺)