Rowan Mead

the drink... not the actor !

I wanted to try mead making and was thinking of what to do for "my first mess".

Since Rowan fermentation comes from the age of Vikings and Mead was never consumed in the Norse, guess it's only appropriate...

So I am hoping to get some suggestions and ideas in formulating a recipe and techniques...

I could wash and crash Rowan throw them into the fermenter and add honey and then fill with water...

Or

I can dip em into boiling water for 15 seconds to clean) and then run through juice maker, rowan juice with 15lbs of honey for a 5g batch... (I have no idea about sugar content in Rowan, maybe with rowan juice I only need 7 lbs of honey)

or use Rowan to flavor basic mead...



Also if any-one knows/ can recommend a good supplier for honey and/Or Rowan

Thank you

I read up about using Rowan berries for wine making the other year, but didn't bother with it in the end.

I have no idea as to whether they're sweet or not. Yes, when hanging on the tree, they're a beautiful orange colour, and around here, in plentiful supply (which is why I thought about it in the first place).

From memory, I seem to recall them being used for a jam/jelly like condiment to accompany game, but also that they need a hell of a lot of sugar as they're quite tannic naturally. While they look pretty on the tree, I'd guess that they'd be like strawberry and not actually have much of a depth of colour pigmentation and would give a tan/straw colour.

I certainly wouldn't crush or otherwise process them, just freeze hard and then thaw, to break down any cell walls in the berry to release any juice/colour/flavour (and I'd ferment on the fruit - for colour and depth of flavour).

As they're not generally eaten, I'd suggest a good bit of researching to ensure that they don't contain any known toxins (specifically as you'd need to use a fair amount and what might be a mild irritant would be concentrated by the wine/mead making process - or like elderberry, the enitre tree being toxic, except the fruit......)

Dunno if that's any help, but your post has re-ignited my thinking as to whether they might be a useful ingredient or not.......

Is this the same as Hawthorn?

odinsgift said:

Is this the same as Hawthorn?

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No. As per some of the info, it would seem that it's the same genus i.e. prunus, but hawthorn is much more shrub like (and has spines) whereas Rowan is more "tree-like".

I don't know whether the berries are made up in the same way. Consider the difference between hawthorn berries, that look like, well, little berries, yet if you look at Blackthorn, the fruit i.e. "Sloes", look more like damsons, or little plums - yet plum trees don't have spines like black/hawthorn. The same difference with Rowan and Hawthorn, Rowan berries orange, hawthorn is red, rowan berries more cluster like in their growth, whereas Haw are more single/double berries. Yet, if you took some Haw and Rowan, apart from the colour and clustering/bunches etc, a pinch would show similar structure. Whether they'd taste the same I don't know, just that historically hawthorn berries were eaten here, just not now......

Im curious if my russian to danish to english translation is out of whack. I know hawthorn trees are related to the God Thor, and also the Russian Perun, and I bought from the russian dried spice rack what was supposedly "hawthorn berries" said my wife, and used them along with juniper berries, a branch from the same tree, and oak chips and made a mjød for Thor, but these "hawthorn berries" were dry and bright orange.

Рябина! is the Russian name, on-line dictionary translated them as Rowan:
http://www.answers.com/topic/rowan

Guess I will read up on the old religions, but I think prior to distillation of alcohol, even before beer was used by the northerners, fermentation of these "Rowanberries" and mead was used and was very common...

Citrus did not grow in the north, sugar is tulips and beats (no sugar cane) hence fermenting the honey... Another berry that would be heavily fermented in the north is Rowan, hawthorn or mountain-ash (I as soon as I can figure out it's real English name Without a centralized religion I am sure there would be folk-tales about the tree...

hmm ... age with oak chips... Good tip

If I am to look for Rowan wine recipe, it would say add cane sugar at ratios 1:1... Which seems crazy, why sugar and not honey...

Do rowan grow in scandinavia? And how far north?

Random article, but a proof of concept

here is another:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbus_aucuparia

it's the end of 2015, my mead has aged to perfection. Now I am having trouble finding the recipe. I used tart cherry, high alcohol tolerance champagne yeast and lot's of honey. I am looking for my brewing notes now

red mead with tart cherry with high %... i think "Kiss of valkyrie" is it's proper name

According to the wiki article, it was the leaves used in fermentation and for beers.. (probably a bittering agent?)

It also states that the berries are a laxative in folk medicine...

Proceed with caution.

(on the other hand, the tannins might be an interesting way to get complexity, and use of the leaves and the berries might be interesting. I say try some of the ingredient whole, then figure out how to build a recipe around them)

odinsgift said:

Do rowan grow in scandinavia? And how far north?

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Yes!

There is quite a lot of it at least on the west coast of Norway. There are still recipes for Rowan jam in many of the cookbooks over here.

odinsgift said:

Do rowan grow in scandinavia? And how far north?

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It is common in most of Scandinavia, and at least as far north as the polar circle. In Swedish it is called Rönn.

Klasm said:

It is common in most of Scandinavia, and at least as far north as the polar circle. In Swedish it is called Rönn.

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Рябина where I grew up !