The Hawthorn Recipes

Written By Zoe Jones

The hawthorn is a common sight in our hedgerows here in Wales and the mountain paths offer many beautiful mature examples. Draped in white blossoms in the spring they are commonly associated with the ancient May day celebrations, which were first recorded during the Roman period. It was believed that bringing hawthorn blossom inside would be followed by illness and death, and in medieval times it was said that hawthorn blossom smelled like the Great Plague. Botanists later learned that the chemical trimethylamine in hawthorn blossom is also one of the first chemicals formed in decaying animal tissue, and thus the association with death can be explained.
The young leaves, flower buds and young flowers and berries are all edible. Young leaves can be added to green salads and were once given the name of bread and butter. The haws can be eaten raw but may cause mild stomach upset. They are most commonly used to make jellies, wines and ketchups as well as used in herbal medicine for conditioning of the heart. Below are a few recipes for you to try. Let me know in the comments if you try any and how you get on.

Recipe 1

Hedgerow ketchup.

Makes 1 x 300ml bottle.

Ingredients;

1lb (approx 450g) mix of any hedgerow fruit, blackberries, hawthorn haws and/or crab apples, sloes

3 shallots chopped

2tsp salt

300ml red wine vinegar or cider vinegar

6oz (approx 170g) light muscovado sugar (any sugar can be used)

Spices;

3 dried chillies

1tsp black peppercorns

1tsp mustard seeds

ginger slices

1 cinnamon stick

Juniper berries can also be added.

Method

  1. Thoroughly wash bottles intended for storage. Remember to use bottle with vinegar proof tops.

  2. Wash and pick over all the fruit. Add to a large pan with shallots, salt and vinegar. Measure out your spices and add to a spice bag or add to a muslin square, secure and add to your pan.

  3. Bring the partially cover pan slowly to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer very gently for 30 minutes or until the fruit has softened. Remove the spice bag and press the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds and tough skins.

  4. Put the prepared bottle in a moderate oven (180c/160cfan/gas4) for 10 mins. Return the ketchup mixture to the rinsed out pan and add the sugar. Bring to the boil, stirring, then boil hard for 8-10 minutes until thick and syrupy. Decant into your warm bottles and seal and label. Will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, for longer term storage (up to a year) the ketchup will need to be sterilised.

Recipe 2

Hawthorn berry wine

2-3lbs (approx 1kg-1.5) ripe hawthorn berries

2 oranges

1 lemon

3lb (approx 1.5kg, remember sugar can always be reduces) sugar, demerara or white will work

1 gallon (4.5L) of water

wine yeast

yeast nutrient

Method

  1. Make sure all equipment is thoroughly clean and sterilised.

  2. Use a folk to strip the berries from the stalks. Wash well.

  3. Place into a fermenting bin or wine bucket and crush a little.

  4. Boil the water and pour over the crushed berries. Put the lid on the bin and leave for 7 days, stirring daily.

  5. Zest and juice the oranges and lemon, place into a large pan with the sugar and strain the liquor from the bin into the pan. Put the pulp into a muslin bag or similar and squeeze out any remaining juice to extract all the flavour.

  6. Heat the pan whilst stirring until all the sugar has dissolved and then allow to cool back down to 20°C . Pour back into the fermenting bin which should have been washed to remove any sediment.

  7. Add the yeast and yeast nutrient, allow to ferment for 3 or 4 days.

  8. Strain into a demijohn, topping up with cooled boiled water as required. Fit the airlock and leave in a warm place until fermentation has finished

  9. Rack, as necessary, and add 1 Campden tablet after the first racking to stop secondary fermentation.

  10. Syphon into bottles

This hawthorn berry wine recipe makes about a gallon of wine. Allow 6 months minimum for the wine to mature when bottled.

Recipe 3

Hawthorn Jelly

ingredients for 1lb jelly, adjust according to requirements

1.5lbs (approx 750g) haw berries per 1lb jar.

1.5 pints ( approx 852 ml) water

1lb (approx 500g) sugar per 1 pint juice

1 lemon

Method.

  1. Sterilise jars

  2. Pick fruit according to your requirements

  3. Remove all stalks and wash thoroughly and drain

  4. Add the fruit to a heavy bottom pan and cover with 1.5 pints of water

  5. Bring to the boil and simmer for an hour, keep an eye on the mixture, mash regularly, every 15 minutes or so.

  6. After an hour add to a jelly bag or through muslin and allow to drain over night. do not squeeze the bag otherwise your jelly will become cloudy.

  7. For every pint of juice add 1 lb of sugar and the juice of 1 lemon

  8. Add the juice, lemon juice and sugar back to the heavy bottom pan. Bring to the boil stirring continuously until the sugar is dissolved.

  9. Boil rapidly until the setting point is reached. Keep testing the jelly on a cold plate.

  10. Add to sterilised warm jars.

Zoe Jones