The rowanberry is a distinctive bright red colour and is commonly found in rocky places, beside mountain streams or in the woods in Ireland. According to ancient Celtic tradition, the pentagram at the base of each berry symbolises protection, courage and wisdom which is why you’d often see them planted beside homes in the hope some of these characteristics would rub off on the household. Kevin’s syrup recipe can be added to sauces in savoury dishes (these berries are delicious paired with game meats) or to add a burst of flavour to sparkling water, drizzled over cheeses and cured meats or used in desserts. If you can’t easily get ahold of rowanberries, no need to worry as you can really lean into your own local seasons and play around with different berries from your area of the world.
Time: 5 mins (prep), 10 mins (cook)
Serves: 2
Equipment: 1x wide sauce pan, 1x wooden chopping board, 1x chef's knife
Ingredients
Method
Step 1
Add the bottled water into a hot pan and then tip in the caster sugar
Step 2
To that add our rowan berries, including the stems. Leaving a bunch behind for the end.
Step 3
Bring to the boil melting the sugar. With a wooden spoon crush the berries releasing the juices into the liquid.
Step 4
Once boiling, pour into your clean jar and then top with the raw berries. Leave for a couple minutes burping once a day.
Step 5
Enjoy
Kevin's Notes
Step 1
Rowan berries come from the ash tree. When foraging these berries look for online guides and seek advice but what you are looking for is the star shape on the bottom of the berry.
Step 2
We want to keep some of the berries back to add whole to the syrup at the end.
Step 3
When the syrup starts coming up to temperature crush the berries with the back of your spoon.
Step 4
We need to burp the syrup once a day to stop the build up of carbon dioxide.
Step 5
Enjoy this added in to meat dishes to lighten them up.
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