Celts used to ferment rowanberry juice in order to make wine, Scots distilled it into a powerful spirit, while the Welsh used it to brew ale. Today, the berries are mostly used to make a tart jelly that goes well with grilled steaks, roast venison and pheasant as well as with cold game.

The European red-berried rowan is a variety that has been grown since earliest times. Berries were picked from wild trees or, such were the magical powers attributed to the rowan, from a tree planted beside a house deliberately in order to give protection from evil spirits.

The time to pick rowanberries is when the berries turn red, but you have to be quick and get in before the birds — who are very fond of rowans — have their fill.

Though the berries taste less bitter after a frost, there may be none left by then, and they can always be picked now and put in the freezer for later use.

For a clear jelly with a tart, smokyish flavour: boil berries together with half their amount of chopped cooking (or crab) apples and just enough water to cover. When the fruits are soft, strain them through muslin or a jelly bag. Then re-boil, combining 1pt (600ml) juice to 1lb (450g) sugar. Boil till set, pot and cover.

Moniack Castle Rowanberry Jelly, Moniack Castle Preserves and Wines, Beauly, Inverness; Everything in the Larder by David Mabey BBC Books (1990)

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