These Rowan Berry Shortbread Cookies blend rich, buttery shortbread with a lush glaze highlighting the pleasant bitterness of rowans.

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Hey, folks! I hope you are enjoying the final days of summer.

Today, I am excited to share a unique ingredient you may not have tried in your cooking: rowan berries. These Shortbread Cookies with Rowan Berry Glaze showcase their pleasant bitterness. Let’s explore the recipe together.

What Are Rowans?

Rowans are shrubs or trees in the genus Sorbus, part of the rose family Rosaceae. In North America, especially in Newfoundland and Labrador, you might hear them called dogberry, referring to the American Mountain-ash. Though often ornamental, their berries are edible.

Are Rowan Berries Edible?

If you Google this, you’ll find many say “no,” partly because raw berries are unpalatable and contain parasorbic acid and cyanogenic glycosides, compounds common in related plants like cherries and almonds.

Both compounds have toxins that may impact health. Parasorbic acid can cause indigestion or kidney damage, while the glycoside in seeds may release cyanide, leading to breathing problems, dizziness, or worse if eaten in quantity.

Health Benefits and Side Effects

Rowan berries are a nutritious food, supporting immune health, metabolism, and digestion.

Raw berries have harmful compounds and must not be consumed raw. And as always, you should do your research and consult with your physician to determine whether rowan berries are suitable for you; they are not recommended for certain conditions, such as kidney issues, to name one.

How to Make Rowan Berries Safe to Eat?

Good news: you can easily make rowan berries safe to eat.

Don’t consume the seeds.
Cooking denatures the glycosides, making the fruit completely safe to eat.
Freezing breaks down parasorbic acid into safe sorbic acid and mellows the astringent flavour.

They are also edible raw in small amounts, though few would eat many at once due to their strong bitterness, which varies by variety.

How to Reduce the Bitterness in Rowan Berries?

The tricky part is to wait as long as possible before picking the berries. While they become red or orange sometime in mid-August, you should wait until September or longer. As they ripen, their bitter taste also diminishes. Indeed, it is often considered that they are at their best just after the first frost. However, you can have a huge competition – birds – so sometimes you can’t wait.

A trick is to freeze freshly picked berries overnight to reduce bitterness.

What is the Taste of Rowan Berries?

As mentioned earlier, raw rowan berries have a unique taste profile – bitter and astringent. Cooked or frozen, they transform into a fruitier, more pleasant taste. Their tangy, slightly bitter profile is often compared to cranberries, with subtle citrus undertones. When made into jams or jellies with sugar and other fruits, such as apples or oranges, the flavor becomes a balanced mix of sweet, tangy, and subtly bitter, creating a unique and exciting taste experience.

Ingredients You’ll Need for Rowan Berry Shortbread Cookies

To make these Rowan Berry Shortbread Cookies, you will need the following ingredients:

Butter – Key for shortbread’s rich flavour and texture, so use high-quality, ideally European-style, butter with higher fat content. I also use American-style butter—it works well too.
Sugar – granulated or powdered—gives a delicate texture. I use little sugar for less sweetness, letting you enhance with glaze or other sweet additions.
All-purpose flour is standard, but some swap one or two tablespoons for cornstarch for a finer crumb. This yields a tender texture.
Salt – a pinch balances sweetness and deepens flavour.
Vanilla extract – Adds a warm aroma.
Rowan Berries – for the glaze. Choose ripe, bright berries from forests, away from roads. Freeze overnight to reduce bitterness and neutralize any harmful effects.
Icing sugar – used for glazing.

What’s the Taste of Rowan Berry Shortbread Cookies?

In short, they’re delicious: rich, buttery, crumbly shortbread with a subtly sweet, fruity Rowan berry glaze. The glaze brings a pleasant bitterness and a hint of citrus, reminiscent of bitter orange marmalade.

More Recipes with Rowan Berries

And be sure to check more rowan berry recipes:

I hope you enjoy these Shortbread Cookies with Rowan Berry Glaze and will give this recipe a try. If you try it, please let me know in the comment section below, send me an Instagram message, or share your photos by adding the hashtag #havocinthekitchen.

Cheers!