Sunshine in a jar

Late summer is beginning to feel autumnal, the farmers have their harvest safely home and this week saw some cold mornings with the temperature hovering just about in positive territory.  The rowan trees in our garden are laden with bright red berries; so we planned a busy day taking advantage of this bounty.....

In batches, we collected a kilo of berries at a time - planning to preserve the berries in two sessions.  Rowan berries are way too bitter and unpalatable to eat if you're human, but the birds absolutely love them, particularly thrushes and starlings.  In fact, a rowan seed won't grow if you plant it, and won't germinate until it's first been through the digestive system of a bird; a remarkable adaptation.  Even taking a kilo at a time from the trees we hardly seemed to affect the amount of berries. A good rowan crop is supposed to presage a hard winter - and we've found this to be borne out in previous years.  As for this winter, well...we'll see!

A neighbour gifted us two big bags of apples - nature has been very abundant after this warm and settled summer.

Rowan berries and apples went into a huge preserving pan, leaving the apple cores in for extra pectin.

An hour of simmering and mashing later and you have a not very attractive thin orange "porridge".  When all the fruit and berries are rendered to pulp, the mixture is strained through a cloth to extract a couple of litres of juice.  Add some sugar, boil rapidly until a "set" is achieved ...........

....and the result is sunshine in a jar.  Beautifully bright pink rowan and apple jelly which goes very well with cold meats and cheeses; and especially well with vension - we use it in casseroles and as a glaze for roast venison.  The new jelly needs to mature for three to four weeks before eating and will last until the berries are ready next year.

Now, it's on to the plums and the rest of the apples!  Jams and stewed fruits were the order of the day, nature's bounty stored for the winter to come.