Name: Rowan berry, also called mountain ash berry or quickbeam (fruit of the European mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia). Despite the common name “mountain ash,” the tree is unrelated to true ash trees and is instead a member of the rose family, closely related to apples and pears.
Description
The rowan is a small deciduous tree native across the Northern Hemisphere, recognizable by its clusters of white spring flowers and its bright orange-red berries that ripen in late summer and persist into winter, making it an important food source for birds. It has long held a place in European folklore, often planted near homes for its supposed protective qualities.
Rowan berries are small, round pomes, botanically similar to tiny apples, but sharply astringent and bitter when raw due to their tannin and sorbic acid content. This natural bitterness is what has kept the fruit firmly in the realm of cooked preserves and drinks rather than fresh eating.
Main nutrition value
No USDA-analyzed nutrition data exists for rowan berry specifically. As a close relative in the same Rosaceae tribe, the figures below are for crab apple, a similarly small, astringent pome fruit, shown here as the nearest available approximation, per 100g raw:
| Name | Average Amount | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Proximates | ||
| Water | 78.9 | g |
| Energy | 76 | kcal |
| Protein | 0.4 | g |
| Total lipid (fat) | 0.3 | g |
| Ash | 0.42 | g |
| Carbohydrate, by difference | 20 | g |
| Minerals | ||
| Calcium, Ca | 18 | mg |
| Iron, Fe | 0.36 | mg |
| Magnesium, Mg | 7 | mg |
| Phosphorus, P | 15 | mg |
| Potassium, K | 194 | mg |
| Sodium, Na | 1 | mg |
| Copper, Cu | 0.067 | mg |
| Manganese, Mn | 0.115 | mg |
| Vitamins | ||
| Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid | 8 | mg |
| Thiamin | 0.03 | mg |
| Riboflavin | 0.02 | mg |
| Niacin | 0.1 | mg |
| Vitamin A, RAE | 2 | µg |
Like other small wild pome fruits, rowan berries are traditionally regarded as a good source of vitamin C and potassium, though exact values for the fruit itself have not been directly analyzed by USDA.
How best to be consumed
Rowan berries are not eaten raw — their tannin content makes them unpleasantly bitter and can upset the stomach — and are instead cooked, most commonly into a tart jelly traditionally served alongside game meats, or fermented into wine. A light frost is said to soften some of the bitterness before harvest, though cooking is what makes the fruit properly palatable.
Overconsumption could cause…
Raw rowan berries eaten in any quantity can cause nausea, stomach cramps, or other digestive upset due to their tannins and parasorbic acid content, which is broken down and neutralized by cooking, freezing, or drying. Properly cooked rowan jelly or preserves are safe in ordinary amounts, though like most fruit preserves they are also a source of added sugar if eaten often.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, FoodData Central — no entry exists for rowan berry in any FDC data type; substituted with Crabapples, raw (FDC ID 171721), the closest available nutritionally-analyzed relative (same Maleae tribe of Rosaceae, small astringent pome fruit), 100g portion: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/171721/nutrients Encyclopaedia Britannica — mountain ash [no dedicated rowan-berry article; genus entry used, which names the European mountain ash directly as rowan-berry]: https://www.britannica.com/plant/mountain-ash-plant
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