Rowan Vodka.

[TeeDee]

I'm going to make this.

Just putting up the Link if anyone wishes to do similar.

How to make rowan vodka - The Field

Last year I made rowan jelly but had copious numbers of berries left over. This year I would like to try making something else using the berries. Can one make rowan vodka and, if so, do you have a recipe?

www.thefield.co.uk

 

[Woody girl]

Birds have already had all the rowen berries on my local trees. Had most of the elderberries even before they are fully ripe.
Squirrels have had all the nuts off my second best bush after the council cut the good one down.
Not a lot left for me this year!
Mind you had a brilliant year last year so I'm not too worried as there are still some stores left.
Rowen berry wine is another if you have a good supply.

 

[bobnewboy]

We leave them for the blackbirds and song thrushes. They strip a tree at a time in our garden, so they are well attuned to the ripeness or otherwise of the fruit. It’s a joy to watch them work

I believe the Rowan berries make a decent fruit leather too....

 

[Robson Valley]

Ugh! Rowan can't be all you have? Nobody here would touch our 2 native species
or the introduced landscaping ornamental that we know as Sorbus aucuparia.

Have you got wild strawberries? We do, pea-sized and a bugger to pick, 2" off the ground.
I should think that strawberry vodka might be quite nice. Over-ripe domestics?

My next experiment is to try to create(?) a version of "chocolate whiskey."
750 bottle of Alberta Premium Rye whiskey and 4-6 tbsp cocoa powder for a month then filter.
I can buy it, seasonal and gone in just a few days.
Stupid company does not seem to comprehend that it's a license to print money.

 

[TeeDee]

Ugh! Rowan can't be all you have? Nobody here would touch our 2 native species
or the introduced landscaping ornamental that we know as Sorbus aucuparia.

Have you got wild strawberries? We do, pea-sized and a bugger to pick, 2" off the ground.
I should think that strawberry vodka might be quite nice. Over-ripe domestics?

My next experiment is to try to create(?) a version of "chocolate whiskey."
750 bottle of Alberta Premium Rye whiskey and 4-6 tbsp cocoa powder for a month then filter.
I can buy it, seasonal and gone in just a few days.
Stupid company does not seem to comprehend that it's a license to print money.

We are talking about ROWAN growing in the the U.K.

 

[Robson Valley]

I thought that Rowan was S. aucuparia, the proper name for our imported European Mountain Ash.

 

[TeeDee]

I thought that Rowan was S. aucuparia, the proper name for our imported European Mountain Ash.

Yes , Rowan - not stawberries.

On point.

 

[Robson Valley]

You are welcome to my share.

 

[SaraR]

I've never tried it in beverages, but it makes for a nice jelly.

 

[TLM]

"Sour, said the fox after tasting rowan berries." Apparently a somewhat old Finnish proverb.

Rowan vodka called "Sorbus" (surprise) was sold here, mostly for alcoholics as it was the cheapest available. (Before someone invented the idea of taxing for alcohol content only.) Actually it was quite ok for cocktails etc.

 

[Broch]

There is a mass of Rowan berry this year. I'm going to try it as one of the 'woodland botanicals' in my home-made gin

 

[Toddy]

Ye gods but you're keen.
Rowans are okay in a jelly, with other fruit and sugar, but as a booze, I have my doubts.
They're really wersh (that means sour and dry at the same time).
Lovely colour you'll get though

 

[TLM]

On rowan berries there is a lot of variation in taste, here the the advice is to look for a tree with no harsh bitter taste, they are all acidic.

 

[Coldfeet]

I agree with the variation found within this family. One tree can be (almost) inedible, whilst another is rather pleasant.

 

[Billy-o]

Yes, I am with RV here. Whilst there is tons of rowan available (having eaten Canadian and UK grown berries, there is no difference), and easy to process into jellies, sauces and all sorts of other things; it is a bland thing. Not exactly flavourless, just unrewardingly dull. My suspicion is that the better way would be to buy decent vodka and enjoy it for the delicacy that it is, and to use rowan for what it is best suited; bulking things up and thickening, a source of pectin, and the damned pips.

Add strawberries to flavour it up by all means, but you may as well add turpentine Still wont taste of much. On the other hand there's people that drink vodka flavoured with grass, so what do I know.

 

[TLM]

Zubrowka, spiced with Hierochloe odorata contains coumarin, not exactly healthy but neither is vodka.

 

[Toddy]

I have a Rowan tree. It's a sweetish Rowan tree, but it's still wersh. It makes a really good jelly that's like a home grown marmalade. Indeed it's excellent as that, and it's also good served up as a kind of chutney with meat. Traditionally we serve it with venison, but it's really comes into it's own when served with a greasy meat, like fat mutton or duck or goose.

Rowan and Apple jelly though that's a seasonal treat

 

[TeeDee]

I have a Rowan tree. It's a sweetish Rowan tree, but it's still wersh. It makes a really good jelly that's like a home grown marmalade. Indeed it's excellent as that, and it's also good served up as a kind of chutney with meat. Traditionally we serve it with venison, but it's really comes into it's own when served with a greasy meat, like fat mutton or duck or goose.

Rowan and Apple jelly though that's a seasonal treat

So it makes a decent Marmalade? How much sugar are you adding? Just wondering why it would work as a Marmalade but not a libation.

 

[SaraR]

Like lingonberries, rowan berries need to have experience a proper frost or two before you pick them. Alternatively you can put them in the freezer, apparently. It really improves the flavour!

In Swedish the 'sour grapes' proverb is 'Sour, said the fox about the rowan berries". We still used to eat them from the trees as kids.

 

[Toddy]

Y'see, I think the frosted ones are shrivelled and mealy tasting, so I don't wait that long. I do freeze some, and that way they don't shrivel up like currants.

@TeeDee , just add the Rowans like you would any other fruit to the mix to make jam or jelly.
If you pressure can them though then you can get away with a lot less sugar since it's not being used as the 'preservative'.

When I was very little I was told that the Rowans could be used to make a pemmican, but I've never tried it.
Might ask about and see if anyone else has.

M