A special harvest

Autumn is showing its most beautiful side this year. Especially striking this year are the many berries of the rowan tree – rowan berries.I would like to write about this in my farm stories.

The rowan is a tree that occurs both in the wild and in cultivated land as an ornamental tree. A good rowan berry harvest usually only happens every three years. At first, the berries are orange-red and become bright red when fully ripe between August and September.

There are various uses for the rowan berry:
Rowan berries are processed into jam, jelly, and compote, as well as used for spirit production. The processing into schnapps has a long tradition, especially here in the Gastein Valley. After Grandpa’s check (3-4 drops per berry must come out and the seeds must be ripened brown), the harvesting can begin.

For schnapps production, the berries are picked by hand—a very labor-intensive process. Collected in a sack on the tree, they’re then separated from the stems using a machine we bought especially for this purpose. In my childhood, we always stripped the berries using a rabbit-wire grid—a wide-mesh screen—and then “squashed” them through the press. Thank goodness it’s easier now.

After the mash has fermented in the barrels, we usually distill the schnapps toward the end of the year. Schnapps distilling is a science of its own and requires good experience. Here on the farm, Grandpa takes care of this meticulous work.

The alcohol yield is very low, approx. 1.5 to 2 liters of alcohol/100l of mash.
Rowan berry schnapps is characterized by a fine bitter almond note and a distinct, intense, long-lasting aroma. In our regions, rowan berry schnapps is probably one of the noblest, highest-quality schnapps.

Have fun tasting and stay healthy! Katharina from Zittrauerhof in the Gastein Valley.