This is a great recipe to try in late autumn. The jelly has a strong, bitter flavour that’s great with game or fatty meats like duck.
Preparation time: 30mins + overnight
Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) is an easy tree to recognise, the bright red berries stand out from far away and it’s very common. Don’t pick berries from beside busy roads though. The berries are usually at their best around October, the longer they ripen the less astrigent they become.
Ingredients:
(quantities will vary so these are just guidelines, this makes a couple of jars)
- A few large bunches of Rowan berries
- 2 Apples (either buy these or pick some wilding apples while out collecting the berries. You could use crab apples too)
- ~300g Preserving sugar (with pectin)
- Water
- Jars to keep jelly in, washed and sterilised
Method:
- Remove the stalks from the berries and wash them, discarding any berries that look off.
- Wash the apples and chop into large chunks
- Place apples and berries in a saucepan and add just enough water to cover.
- Bring to the boil, simmer until berries begin to break up, you can use a spoon to break up the berries further.
- Pour into a jelly bag over a bowl, suspend the bag above the bowl and leave to drip overnight.
(If you don’t have a jelly bag, or are too impatient to wait you can also just use a sieve and squeeze the juice out using a spoon. This will give you a less clear jelly as it’ll push some of the pulp through too.) - Discard the pulp and pour the juice into a measuring jug. (Now would be a good time to make sure you have enought jars and to sterilise them. You can get sterilising tablets from most chemists)
- You will need 100g of preserving sugar for every 100ml of juice.
- Pour the juice into a saucepan and heat up.
- Slowly stir in the sugar, making sure it all dissolves, do not boil at this stage.
- Once all the sugar has dissolved bring to the boil.
- Boil on a rolling simmer for 4 minutes, skimming off any white foam that rises to the top.
- Working quickly, pour the juice into the sterilised jars and seal the jars tight.
- Leave to cool to room temperature before putting in the fridge.
