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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Rowan Berry-Apple Jam

Rowan Berry-Apple JamThe rowan berries will be ready soon. Last year I shared my favorite method for preserving them in syrup, which makes them taste a bit like cranberries, and curbs their bitterness so much you can eat them right from the jar, after a while.

Sometimes I don’t want to wait. Also, gathering food for the restaurant and working long shifts takes it’s toll on my free time, so when I do go out to hunt goodies for the restaurant, I try to stretch ingredients for all they’re worth.

I came up with this jam as a way to use rowan berries right away, but also to stretch them, since when you combine them with the apples, you get a lot of yield from just a small amount of berries.

Rowan berries or mountain ash berries

Cranberries are paired with apples to mellow their tartness. Rowan berries are similar, but much more bitter. The key with them is figuring out a way to curb their punch, and enhance their fruity-ness. Traditionally, jellies are made from rowan berries, but jellies often have way too much sugar for my taste.

I tend to stray towards sweet jams and thick fruit purees that utilize the skin of the fruit as a thickener. This means that you have to deal with the high amount of natural, mouth-drying tannin in the skins of fruit, but with a little effort, it can be mellowed, not removed, but mellowed.

That being said, the mechanics of the jam are simple. Cook some apples and rowan berries together, pass through a food mill, reduce. That’s it. The apples mellow the tannin and bitterness of the berries, but the jam retains enough of their flavor to make it interesting, and it definitely isn’t too sweet.

Pick your berries after a frost

The flavor of rowanberries is drastically improved by a few cold frosts. I don’t even think of harvesting them anymore before it gets cold.

Different species, different levels of bitter

Know that there are different species of mountain ash, and they definitely taste different. One tree I pick from has very small berries that I can eat straight from the tree and barely taste any bitter, some are incredibly bitter raw. I’m a chef, not a botanist, so I can’t speak to all the different types, but don’t be discouraged. If you have some property, you might think about getting a European strain, but you’re on your own there. In the end, there will be some bitterness, if that scares you, refer to the rowanberries in syrup.

Rowan Berry-Apple Jam

Rowan Berry-Apple Jam

Excellent on a cheese plate, mixed with meat stock, cooked, and mounted with butter for a sauce, spread thin and dehydrated to make a sweet-sour fruit leather, there’s plenty of possibilities.

The jam could also be canned in a pressure or water bath canner, but if you use a water bath, make sure to use a ph tester and make sure the ph is 4.2 or below. If the ph needs to be adjusted, add a little apple cider vinegar, then retest until you get a good ph level.

Yield: about 2 cups of jam

Ingredients

  • 2 cups ripe rowan berries
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar
  • 4 cups diced firm apples, like braeburn, fuji, honeycrisp or granny smith, peeled and diced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, roughly chopped, or more to taste
  • Pinch of salt

Method

  1. Cook all ingredients on medium heat in a non-reactive pot until soft, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the pan gets dry, add a tablespoon or so of water.
  2. Pass the mixture through a food mill. Put the jam into a labeled, dated container, then freeze or refrigerate until needed. If the jam looks watery, put it back on the heat and cook gently to dry it out until it thickens. The jam will keep in the fridge for a week or two.

Rowan Berry Jam With 4 Spices and Orange

Here is a great variation on the basic recipe above, it ends up tasting a bit like peach jam.

Method

Follow the recipe above, adding the following right before pureeing in the blender:

  • 1/8 teaspoon each: toasted ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice
  • Grated zest of one orange

Related

Previous Post: « Nasturtium Leaves And Flowers
Next Post: Fried Oyster Mushroom Croutons »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. WillK

    September 3, 2015 at 3:43 pm

    What a great idea, combining them with apples. I might give this a try with deerberries (aka “squawberries”, Vaccinium stamineum) next season.

    Reply
  2. Deborah

    September 6, 2015 at 1:16 pm

    The photo resembles the apple and pear “butters” I remember from my childhood. My mom always warned us off the Mountain Ash berries, so I’m happy to see this recipe! We too prefer slightly tart jams and jellies.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      September 15, 2015 at 12:44 pm

      Hi Deborah, yes, this comes out a bit like apple/pear butter, its definitely on the mild/savory side.

      Reply
  3. Gary T Britton

    July 13, 2016 at 9:28 am

    I had a recipe about 3 years ago and made a huge batch. Last year our Ash Tree did not produce well and the wild Turkeys stripped my Apple Tree so never made a new batch. This year I have a ton of Ash Berries and only Two Jars left. I have LOST that recipe and am very sad. Today, I found yours and it looks a lot like what I used 3 years ago with the 4 spices and orange. I Can mine and think I used water bath method. I do have to add vinegar as I have very hard water. What I need to know is “How long do I leave it in the water bath and/or the Pressure Canner?”

    Reply
    • Gary T Britton

      July 13, 2016 at 9:54 am

      …and what headspace would you use???

      Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      August 5, 2016 at 4:51 pm

      For small half pint jars like the one pictured, about 12-15 minutes is fine. For the headspace, just fill the jars up until the line under the cap, about 1/2 inch. Hope that helps.

      Reply
      • Gary

        August 6, 2016 at 11:33 am

        Thank you very much! Just waiting for a good frost! My Ash tree is LOADED! Branches are sagging with all the berries!

        Reply
  4. Marie

    October 19, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    Hello, I would like to make this Rowan berries and apple jam, leaving the pulp, not putting the purée through a food mill or blender. This is because I believe in using the whole fruit, if possible. Is that going to be a problem with this berry? Thank you for your input. Kind regards.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 25, 2019 at 9:31 am

      It’s not going to be a problem.

      Reply
  5. Annie Cannon

    September 28, 2020 at 11:54 pm

    I’m wondering if freezing the berries right after picking will work in place of waiting for a natural frost

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      September 29, 2020 at 11:59 am

      Negative. You need multiple hard frosts. I suppose you could experiment with taking them out and putting them back in, but it seems silly to me. I just wait.

      Reply
      • Christine Duffy

        October 7, 2021 at 11:01 am

        5 stars
        Thank you for this recipe, this is my first time using rowan berries, lots of them here in Ireland. I had read in another recipe about freezing first, but multiple freezes sounds better and at this time – living in two locations, it suits me to do that, so thanks for heads up.

        Reply
  6. Heather

    September 12, 2021 at 12:49 pm

    5 stars
    Do you think this would taste good as a pear/rowan spread? We just bought property, and we have two heavily fruited pear trees. I don’t know what to do with it all!

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      September 12, 2021 at 2:56 pm

      Sure

      Reply

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
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Alan Bergo
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

Just like wild parsnip, this is the exact same plant you see in the store and garden-just escaped. 

During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with @jesseroes TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with 
@jesseroesler and crew @campwandawega
📸 @misterberndt 

#staffmeal #brisket #meatsweats #naptime
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