Rowans

It's been hard to ignore the glut of blackberries dripping from brambles everywhere this autumn. For weeks we've had a constant tupperware of blackberry compote in the fridge, waiting to top crumbles, scones and ice cream. But it's not just blackberries which have seen a boom this year.

Extremes of weather at crucial points (particularly blossoming and setting) can be make-or-break for flowering trees and plants. It happens that the weather this year has combined to bring bumper crops of apples, acorns, beechnuts and rowan berries too (a relief after not a single apple or beechnut set in my neck of the woods in 2012).

(On a serious note, in 2013, sloes and gooseberries flowered just as the 'cold snap' (a.k.a. seemingly eternal winter) was ending, so they weren't pollinated and their fruit has been pretty much absent this year in the Peaks. You win some, you lose some. The worry is just that we'll lose more than we win, and only the most rampant weeds will survive. 

Japanese knotweed sandwiches anyone?)

Back to gluts: rowan berries are one of this year's winners. They look how you would imagine a stereotypical bunch of red berries to look: a profuse truss of crayon red balls on a relatively sparse tree.

The River Cottage guide to preserves reliably informed me that Rowan Jelly was delicious - and would make a perfect accomaniment to game. Being vegetarian, I have no idea what this tastes like. But imagining this means it would go well with autumnal food (mushrooms, moldy things, mature cheese), I thought it would be worth giving it a shot and preserving a bit of this early autumn bounty.

Cue me getting very excited with scissors, pots, and pans... and a camera. 

To make one jar, you need to pick about 250g of berries. I got a bit carried away, but they freeze OK.

Remove the berries from their stalks, pick through, wash, and weigh.

Add the berries to a saucepan with 2 roughly chopped apples (with peel and core) and 300ml water. Boil until smushy.

Empty until a scalded jelly bag and leave overnight (because nighttime is when all culinary magic happens and fairies come to dance on your berries. No joke).

Add the strained juice to a clean saucepan with the juice of half a lemon and 225g of plain ole' caster sugar. Boil vigorously until it reaches 104oC, or when a fridge-cold spoon of the stuff wrinkles when you dip it in with the speed of light and leave it to cool for a sec (this method does not seem 100% scientific and results in a slightly harder-than-hoped-for set, but is fine if you don't have a cooking thermometer).

Pour into a sterilised jam jar. Seal and admire the beauty of your creation.

Serve with cheese, crackers, and mushrooms. Or game. I won't judge. Either way, absolutley delicious, and a perfect way to make the most of what the season throws at us.

Happy autumn, all!