Hello, my beautiful people! How are you doing today? It was raining for the whole last week here in Oslo, Norway, and it started to have some sunshine again this week. I went for a walk yesterday, and I guess due to the rain, many rowan berries have fallen on the ground from the rowan berry trees. From afar, I could see red spots everywhere on the ground under the rowan berry trees. I’ve been waiting to pick some rowan berries and make some rowan berry jelly. How lucky was I to find many berries fallen on the ground to be picked up by me! They looked like they were freshly fallen from the trees, as the berries were very fresh, plump, red, and ripe, ready to be eaten. So for today’s blog post, I want to share this rowan berry jelly recipe with you all.
Let’s start by talking a little about the rowan berries.
A Little About Rowan Berry
Also known as mountain ash berries or rowan tree berries, these rowan berries are easy to find in Northern Europe. They belong to the rose family. The rowan berries look like smaller versions of rosehips, the fruits of roses. The fruits are bright orange and yellow and appear in clusters from late summer to autumn.
Fresh rowan berries are bitter and sour, and the fruits are quite dry. They are not quite palatable raw, so they are usually cooked. But these fresh rowan berries are great if you find them while on a walk and eat a few as a snack for vitamin C!
Various Rowan Berry Recipes
These berries can be made into alcohol, jam, tea, syrups, or even vinegar. In Norway, the rowan berries are usually cooked into jellies and served as a sauce for warm salads or as a side dish to other main meat dishes.
Salad with kale, rowan berry jelly, pickled vegetables, and fried cheese from Magne Christensen, head chef at the Gastronomic Institute in Stavanger. Source: NRK
There are rowan berry trees on a sidewalk like this in Norway and Sweden.
Rowan Berries in Norway and Sweden
There are many rowan berry trees in Norway and Sweden. Many houses here also plant them near homes; as the legend says, the rowan berries chase away witches and protect homes. They are also decorative in the fall and winter. When I first came to Norway, I never thought they were edible! They were everywhere, on pathways and in the forest. Surely, those must be poisonous for humans… But they are not only edible but also sold in jelly form in gourmet supermarkets here.
You might be able to see some rowan berry trees in a forest… Then pick some!
Foraging Rowan Berries
Rowan berries are great for foraging. Many rowan trees grow wild in the forests of Northern Europe. I also pick some while on a walk in the forest from the trees. But these are a great food source for wild animals and birds, so I try to forage only a little for myself and leave most for the wildlife.
To make the rowan berry jelly, you need mostly apples anyway! Rowan berries have a particular, bitter taste, so you don’t need a lot. Also, most rowan berry jelly recipes include some fall spices like cinnamon for added flavor.
Rowan Berry Health Benefits
Throughout history in Europe, rowan berries have been used for medical purposes. Here are some of the interesting health benefits of eating rowan berries.
- Anti-aging from rich vitamins
- Treat constipation and respiratory infections such as cough
- Anti-diabetic
There is a reason why these rowan berries, aka mountain ashes, were considered magical in Europe in old times. With no further ado, let’s make some rowan berry jelly!
Rowan Berry Jelly | Traditional Norwegian Rowan Berry Recipe
Traditional Norwegian Rowan Berry Jelly
Ingredients
Method
- In a washing bowl, add rowan berries. Wash the berries thoroughly. Mash them roughly with a spoon. Set aside.
- In a washing bowl, bring about three apples. Wash them thoroughly. Then cut the apples into cubes and measure about 315 grams of them.
- Place the mashed rowan berries and apple pieces in a pot and fill it with water. Bring it to a boil. Once it boils, bring it to a simmer and cook until everything is soft. Don’t mash the apples while cooking. Let it cool.
- Once cooled, bring it and let it run through a clean cotton towel. Leave it to drain overnight. Do not press. Otherwise, the juice will become cloudy.
- Next morning, you will have clear red juice. Pour the juice into a pot and add the salt, sugar, and lemon juice. I like to add a tablespoon of pectin to make sure it becomes jelly. You can leave this part and let the pectin in the apple do the job naturally or boil it until it becomes jelly. Optionally, you can also add a cinnamon stick.
- Bring it to a boil and let it cook for 20 minutes. The sugar and salt should have dissolved.
- Pour the liquid into a jar or a bowl. Leave it to cool down. Store them in the fridge until you serve. Enjoy!
How to Serve Rowan Berry Jelly
1. Serve with the Main Dish
This is the most common way to serve rowan berry jelly, as my Norwegian aunt told me. You could serve this rowan berry jelly with any kind of main dish, as you would with lingonberry sauce. Lingonberry sauce is usually served on a dinner plate during the Christmas season with meat, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, and other root veggies. I love having plant-based meatballs with lingonberry sauce or rowan berry jelly. It’s absolutely divine!
2. On Warm Salad
As shown in the picture above, try the rowan berry jelly with some warm salad. You could certainly serve it on a cold salad too. But as rowan berries are ripe and available in the fall, we love accompanying the jelly on warn salad on a chilly evening. I hope you try that!
3. Spread on Bread
You can spread the rowan berry jelly on your bread like you would with any jelly or jam. Rowan berry jelly makes a gourmet spread on all kinds of bread!
Summary of Rowan Berry Jelly Recipe
I hope you enjoyed this blog post about the rowan berry jelly recipe! It’s my first time posting a Norwegian recipe, and this was so much fun. This rowan berry jelly is so special because it is not easy to find at a regular grocery store. We usually need to go out in the forest and forage some rowan berries to make this jelly. It’s about embracing what nature offers us, and I love that!
I will see you again with another delicious post.
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