Here is a similar looking plant but of another genus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viburnum_opulus In ukraine we would rub it with sugar when someone had a cold or a sore throat.

Both are very interesting plants with long folklore histories.

I have loads of these growing in my backyard and always wondered what they were. I tried one once, but it was way too tart for me. I'll leave 'em for the birds, thankyouverymuch.

Save the leaves (which in the photo seem to be serrated) I would thought those are "pingüicas". Pinguicas are quite diuretic and used in many preparations, but particularly in "agua fresca", a beverage with lime, pinguicas, mint and sugar. My grandmother used to make a puree with these to go with pork.

Rowanberries are very common in Estonia, not very popular, but used already for a long time. They've got a lot of vitamins and minerals.

It actually contains more sugar than strawberries or raspberries, but the bitter agent makes us believe otherwise. To reduce it keep them in the freezer for a few days. It is said to be enough to keep them for 1 hour in saltwater when making preserves, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

You can add them to breads, salads, stews, soups. They should suit well with wild meat (elk, pig, deer) and birds meat. It is said that using in preserves they stop the fermenting process and make the preserves last longer.

Stewed salad or jam from rowanberries and zucchini or pumpkin

From zucchini and pumpkin you can make jam with rowanberries. Depending on the amount of sugar added you can either make it into stewed salad or jam.

1 l rowanberries
1 l chopped zucchini or pumpkin
2 glasses (2x200ml) chopped ebaküdoonia (flowering quince) fruit or juice or red currant juice
0,25-0,75 kg sugar
1 piece of cinnamon + cloves or vanilla for seasoning.

Remove the berries from the twigs and leave them overnight in deep freezer (or keep them 1 hour in saltwater). Boil the berries and quince until soft. If using juice add it later with zucchini. Add zucchini or pumpkin pieces, sugar and seasoning and boil everything 15 more minutes. Put it into prepared preserving jars and seal airtight.

If you make salad (with less sugar) then you can add onions and tomatoes when adding zucchini. In order for the preserve to last better you should sautee the onions and tomatoes in some oil first.

Recipe for rowanberry-apple jelly puree

1 kg cleaned rowanberries
2 kg apples
1,5 kg sugar
peppermint or melisse leaves for seasoning

Clean, chopp and boil in low amount of water the apples. Then puree them. In another pot boil on low heat the cleaned rowanberries that have been overnight in deep freezer. Add peppermint or melissa and puree. Add to the apple puree. Boil 15 minutes, then add slowly sugar while constantly stirring. Boil while constantly stirring until the puree becomes a bit more glassy/shiny and thicker (test it: drip some puree onto a cold plate - it has to become jelly like). While still hot put it into prepared preserving jars and seal airtight.

Bread with rowanberries

1 glass rowanberries (removed from stalks, kept overnight in freezer)
1 glass chopped carrots
0,75 l water
2 Tsp sour cream and/or oil
2 Tsp sugar
1 teasp salt
0,5 package dry active yeast
2 kg wholemeal wheat flour or barley flour or equal mix of wheat and barley flour (rises better than plain barley flour)
optional: some peppermint leaves for seasoning

Boil berries and carrots in some water soft and puree them. You can add some peppermint leaves for seasoning. While the mix cools down add sugar, salt, sour cream and/or oil and flour mixed with dry yeast. Mix until the dough doesn't stick to the bowl anymore. Leave it to rise in a warm place up to 30 minutes. If you want to make small buns then the dough needs to be a bit firmer. Put the dough into bread pans and let it rise some more. Cook at 200C / 392 F for about 40 minutes - this depends on the size of the loafs.

Rowanberry icecream:

100 ml 35% cream (= whipped cream)
200 ml 10% cream (= coffe cream)
275 g rowanberries (cleaned & kept in freezer overnight to reduce the bitterness)
sugar to taste

Except for a few berries that are used later as decoration take the rowanberries and puree them. Add cream and sugar (can be half regular sugar and half farine sugar) and put it into the ice-cream maker.

Will be slightly orange with some berry pieces and taste a bit sour - depending on the amount of sugar.

Guys BEWARE! The frost isn't so much about making them sweeter as it is about making them safe to eat. They actually contain parasorbic acid which causes an upset stomach and even kidney damage. The berries are made safe to consume by freezing, drying or heat treating. Freezing for a few days usually helps with the bitterness though and is my chosen method.

I like to pick mine in November and December when the great frost is on- I then bung them in the freezer for good measure. Here we eat them in a jelly with cold smoked meats. It's not very exciting but I guess the bitterness has generally put people off from doing more exotic culinary things with it.

I ate these all the time as a kid. I'd pick them off bushes on the way home from school in Los Angeles. Never knew until now what they were called!