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Syrup · From Bladwijzer

Rowan syrup

Updated on 9 October 2026

• Makes: ± 600 ml
• Time: 1 hr + overnight freezing
• From: Rowan

Ingredients

• 500 g ripe rowan berries, stripped from the stalks
• 500 ml water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• juice of 1 lemon
• ± 300 g sugar (60 g per 100 ml of juice)

Method

1. Strip the berries from the stalks and remove any leaves and any brown or mouldy berries. Rinse them.
2. Put the berries in the freezer overnight. Like a frost on the tree, this makes them milder.
3. Put the frozen berries in a pan with the water and the cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 20 minutes, until the berries are completely soft. Never eat them raw.
4. Tip the berries into a cloth or a fine sieve and leave to drip for 1 hour. Do not squeeze, so the syrup stays clear.
5. Measure the juice and return it to the pan with the lemon juice. Add 60 g sugar for every 100 ml of juice.
6. Heat until the sugar has dissolved and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Skim off the foam.
7. Pour the syrup hot into clean, sterilised bottles and seal at once.

Storing: Unopened, six months in a cool, dark place; once opened, in the fridge. Dilute 1 part syrup with 4–5 parts water, or pour it over yoghurt or ice cream. The syrup is always cooked: never eat the berries themselves raw.