Kitchen Cauldroning

[Labrys]

Celebrated my birthday with a favorite thing---trying new recipe fun!  The rowan berries hereabouts are ready to use.
If old Scott C. is right, rowan fruit is a fire fruit and sacred to Thor, and good for healing and protection.  So, not only cooking, but magical cooking!  What could be more delicious to do on a Thursday (Thor'sday) night?

Ok, I first read about using rowan berries in a novel---a prize winning novel by Norwegian Sigrid Undset.  It was set in medieval Norway and some of her characters waiting till the first few hard frosts of the year to go harvest the rowan berries by the church.

The current recipe I found for rowan jelly didn't specify frost-bitten berries, but I waited until we had three separate nights of below freezing weather to go looking for berries.  Good thing I didn't wait longer!  The berries I had covetously watched in the marsh DISAPPEARED!  When I went to my second chosen source, I learned why...when frosted, they start falling OFF the tree!  I had to hold the bag beneath each bunch and tug lightly....one more good frost and they all would have been on the ground.  I didnt' dare wait to use them, since frost ruptured the inside and they would rapidly rot.  So, I mauled a pint's worth of them last night and set them to soaking in a half gallon of vodka.  Finishing that will be NEXT month's task.

Then I made jelly.  After thoroughly washing the berries, even using a tiny bit of veggie wash soap and rinsing well, I put about 2 1/2 lbs of rowan berries in a large kettle with a chopped up large lemon and a pint of water.

I brought this to a boil, lowered the heat to simmer and cooked it for an hour.  I put six layers of cheesecloth in a large strainer over a pan...poured the berries and juice in. I pressed out a lot of the juice, then tied the cheesecloth tightly around the fruit mass and pressed the rest out.  I am not so picky that my jelly be crystal clear, you see...as in getting the most out of the fruit.

I had just over 30 ounces of bright scarlet juice., the recipe said to put in one pound of sugar (2 cups) for every 10 ounces of juice!  Three pounds of sugar scared me silly....that much usually will make a jelly go to sugar!  So I put in two pounds and brought it to a boil to dissolve it.

Then I tasted it.  Imagine horrid face making here, ok?  Rowan berries are possibly the most astringent bitter-tart thing on the planet and my face did some impossible contortions.  Still worried about sugaring, I changed the recipe and added a pound of HONEY instead of more sugar.  I brought it back to a boil and cooked it almost exactly 9 minutes.  It gelled very easily.  I jarred it up in 7 half pint jars and did a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

It tastes very good this morning....almost like a Seville orange marmalade jelly, sweet with a hint of astringent bitter.  Beautiful color!  So, the final recipe amounts:

2 1/2 lbs frosted rowan berries, well washed
1 large lemon (preferably ulu chopped!)
1 pint water
4 c sugar
1 pound honey (about a 12 ounce jar)

Now, anyone with a rowan in reach....get 'em while the getting is good!

[Still Kate]

The bit about the Vodka sound really good.

I have a cherry tree in my garden, a huge one, I put 5lbs of cherries in Brandy and 5lbs in vodka in kilner jars.

I have 3 kilner jars of Brandy and 2 of Vodka ready for Christmas.
The Brandy one is great for Pate and Terrines or chucking a dessert spoon in Onion chutney. The vodka one.... good with a little ice in a nice chilled glass by a warm fire.

(These have been swimming in the vodka since June)

Blessings
Kate. xx

[Labrys]

(These have been swimming in the vodka since June)

Blessings
Kate. xx

We really don't do the boozy fruit here.  Tried it, since we do have a cherry tree and lost of wild berries around...but nobody eats it.  So now, we make liqueurs and those do get a better reception.

[Labrys]

And now, the final preserving kettle cook of the year...

Hedge Jelly

8 oz haws (fruit of the hawthorn tree)
handful of Oregon grape berries
2 lbs blue elderberries
1 lb rose hips
6 - 8 oz cranberries (or a pound of greenling apples or crab apples---I am allergic so must substitute)

Clean all the above....pull flower ends off the rosehips.  Remove all stems from elderberries...as all part of the elder tree are toxic except the berries.

Put in large kettle, add about 3 c of water and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer for 2 hours---the haws and rose hips take a lot of tenderizing.  Strain thru multiple layers of cheesecloth in a large colander over clean pan.  Squeeze out as much juice as you can without forcing fruit pulp thru the cloth.

Measure the juice and return to large kettle.  Add equal amounts cup for cup of sugar, or 3/4 c honey per cup juice.
(I use some of each)  Bring to a rapid boil and cook in ten minute increments, testing for jel stage.  When it is sheeting successfully off the spoon, it is ready.  Jar it up, seal and hot water bath it 10 minutes.

Wonderful corresponding deities...Frau Holle (Hel)for the elder berries, and Hekate to me is always symbolized by the wild rugosa type rose bushes, and of course, the wonderful hawthorn can only be good to have for magical intent. 

Samhain joys....the harvest part makes my heart sing.

[Lark]

That last jelly sounds absolutely yummy!

I didn't get anything put up this year.  But I did make up a big batch of applesauce from our Granny Smith tree.  This is the first year that frost didn't do in the fruit before it set and I got a rather nice crop.  They aren't pretty like the ones in the store, but they sure taste great!

-Lark-

[Sorsha]

This topic makes me miss the fruit trees I had in Virginia.  Never did have much to speak of as far as the apples, most of them ended up goin to the horse's but, we did have an abundance of lovely peaches most every year!

I used to make Peach Cobbler's. Then I would go to a near-by dairy farm that made their own ice cream right there on site. I'd buy a pint of vanilla to go with each cobbler.

Then, I would deliver a cobbler, along with a pint of ice cream to many of my Neighbors, especially the elderly ones, and some of the local places we used for hay, grain, shavings, and other farm supplies.

Each cobbler would come with a tag with these instructions:
Heat cobbler till warm, add 1 scoop of Ice Cream, Enjoy! 

[Labrys]

That last jelly sounds absolutely yummy!

  They aren't pretty like the ones in the store, but they sure taste great!

-Lark-

And not soaked in the pesticides and other crud, either!  Granny Smiths are the favored pie apple in this house, both the guys are very fond of apple pie with a crumb topping.

That last jelly is delicious, but what a passel of work for little return.  The flavor is intense and rich, but the whole thing made only 2 1/2 pints!  I think I better double the amounts next year.  It looked like a lot starting out in the pot---but with jelly making using only the juice, that "looks like" didn't count for much!

[Lark]

This topic makes me miss the fruit trees I had in Virginia.  Never did have much to speak of as far as the apples, most of them ended up goin to the horse's but, we did have an abundance of lovely peaches most every year!

I used to make Peach Cobbler's. Then I would go to a near-by dairy farm that made their own ice cream right there on site. I'd buy a pint of vanilla to go with each cobbler.

Then, I would deliver a cobbler, along with a pint of ice cream to many of my Neighbors, especially the elderly ones, and some of the local places we used for hay, grain, shavings, and other farm supplies.

Each cobbler would come with a tag with these instructions:
Heat cobbler till warm, add 1 scoop of Ice Cream, Enjoy! 

Yes, out peach tree was really abundant this year.  I love to eat them warm from the tree when the juice is running down your chin.

But one of my favorite summer treats is a wild blackberry and peach cobbler.  With out without the ice cream it is the taste of summer.

-Lark-

[Rowan CedarWolf]

Labrys,
I'm hoping that the recipe of the mentioned granny smith pie you mentioned is coming!

[Labrys]

But one of my favorite summer treats is a wild blackberry and peach cobbler.  With out without the ice cream it is the taste of summer.

-Lark-

That is one of the best things ever.  Since peaches are one of my most allergic ever things...I had to improvise.  I make a mango blueberry pie that everyone simply raves over...not as good as blackberry peach, but very good.

[Labrys]

Labrys,
I'm hoping that the recipe of the mentioned granny smith pie you mentioned is coming!

I don't have much of a written recipe, honestly.  I peel and slice about 5 or 6 apples  and mix in about 1/4 c flour and a c of sugar (or 3/4 c honey) with about 1 T of cinnamon, a touch of cloves, and maybe a handfull of cranberries.  Mix the fruit and other things...pour into a pie shell, top with crust of the type of crumbly mixture you put on apple crisp.  Bake at 425 for 15 min, lower tempt o 375 and back till fruit is tender and bubbling. 

[Rowan CedarWolf]

Sounds wonderful! and just in time for thanksgiving! Yum!
Thanks a bunch