How To Cook Hawthorn Berries – Berry-laden branches almost touching the ground with large streaks of red dots covering fences, tangled in the lower branches of the oaks and marching up hills… Who could resist such easy pickings?
When you can fill a five gallon bucket in less than 30 minutes, the lure is completely irresistible.
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How To Cook Hawthorn Berries
And here you are, berries and bunches of leaves loaded bucket in hand, headed for the kitchen and the big Hawthorn extravaganza.
Solaray Hawthorn Berry 525mg
But before you get caught up spending the better part of the rest of your week dealing with your bounty, here are a few quick tricks to get your harvest up to speed and create some tempting and delicious healing foods and remedies perfect for the season.
First, separate at least half of the berries and all the leaves on wide flat trays to dry. Wash them by running them through a jug of cold water and shaking them well before placing them on the drying rack.
Cookie sheets with cooling racks inserted into them to lift the leaves and berries off the pan surface work great. No racks? Just spread parchment paper on the pans before spreading the leaves and berries out to dry. If you are using an oven, use it only after you have turned it off and the oven temperature reads 90°F or less. Otherwise, the leaves will quickly turn into burnt dust. You may also want to separate the berries and leaves and dry the berries at temperatures as low as 130°F to 150°F and store the leaves at the lower temperatures. Keeping them in sealed paper bags until you use them to make teas or other recipes will prevent them from sealing in moisture, which can cause spoilage or mold.
This will give you long lasting berries for later use as well as the first two ingredients of Hawthorn tea. The berries won’t stay fresh, so dry the ones you’re not ready to use right away.
How To Make Hay Wreath Decorated With Hawthorn Berries And Rose Hip, Tutorial Stock Image
Next, wash, sort and de-stress the remaining berries. You can use the recipes on this page to make a tincture, syrup and a nice tasty ketchup with the berries. Now you can measure your berries and decide on the recipes and decide how many of which you would like to make. I usually make all three recipes in one afternoon to get the best out of working with the berries at the same time.
First decide how much syrup you want to make. Boiling the syrup requires about twenty times the weight of your berries in water, so if you plan to make a quart or more of syrup, you will need at least a 10 quart pot to hold the water.
Hawthorn Syrup is a well-known herbal remedy for cough, cold, flu-like symptoms, headache and heart strengthening.
Pick your berries and weigh them so you know how much water to add to your pot. For simplicity we will say that we use 100 grams of berries, or 3.5 ounces, because that makes it easier to measure the water. I would suggest using multiples of 100 grams for your recipe. That will mean 3.5, 7, 10.5 and 14 ounces as you increase the recipe. But remember, you need 20 times the water, so unless you have a very large boiling pot, you’ll be working in the lower numbers here.
Sweet And Sour Chicken With Hawthorn Berry
This is a wonderful sauce to use on winter squash, meats and greens. We love it on pork ribs with collard greens and kale.
Hawthorn has been used to strengthen the heart and provide healing for centuries. The famous Dr. Christopher Hawthorn Syrup is still sold today and has a large and growing following of those who swear by its healing powers. Now you can enjoy these delicious and healthy berries all year round with your own berries. Syrup and ketchup will last up to about 3 months in the refrigerator.
When you run out, simply use your dried berries to make new batches. You will need to place the berries in fresh room temperature water for an hour or so before starting the recipes to rehydrate them, but then they will be ready to go just like the fresh harvested berries of fall.
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How To Make Hawthorn Gin
Cookies are important for the proper functioning of the website and we use them to help us offer you the best online experience. By using our website and/or clicking OK, you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy.I agreePrivacy PolicyOctober/November, after the first frost, is also the time to pick hawthorn berries. Hawthorn is relatively unused as a hedge berry being mostly used for hawthorn gin or hawthorn brandy. It can also be used to make jam or jelly. Hawthorn gin is much nicer than sloe gin. It’s not that sweet and syrupy, in fact it tastes more like a fortified wine like a dry sherry than like a liqueur. It’s worth growing up. Hawthorn gin made now will be perfect next Christmas. If you don’t think you can wait that long, then make double the amount – some to be drunk young this year, and some to mature for next year. Do a lot anyway because it’s so much more!
Sort, top and tail the berries. This is quite time consuming and not the end of the world if you don’t – however it will result in sediment that is difficult to strain later and will spoil the clarity of your gin. Pack the berries into a preserving jar, sprinkling a little sugar between layers. Once you’ve reached the top of the jar (leaving some space to allow for shaking), fill with cheap gin (supermarket own brand will do). Seal and put in a cupboard. Every few days, shake the jar.
After 4 weeks the berries will lose their color and the gin will turn a pink shade. (If you leave it longer before straining, the flavor will intensify. However, you are more likely to get a muddy sediment occurring. If you have bright plump berries, you could let the gin macerate for several months, but if the berries are hard. and discolored month is enough.) After straining, filter into bottles and mature for at least another three months. Enjoy in moderation!
Hawthorn also has a history as an herb used by herbalists to treat high blood pressure. It is also good for the heart as it has vasorelaxing properties and is very high in bioflavonoids – also good for your heart. This is well supported by research. (If your blood pressure is already high and you’re on medication, you shouldn’t just stop taking it. But, along with a consultation with a medical herbalist, you may be able to reduce your dependence on drugs.) The best way to take hawthorn berry is as a tincture. A tincture is basically the herb (in this case the hawthorn berry) macerated (soaked) in alcohol to form a tincture. So basically hawthorn gin is a form of tincture. And a small request taken regularly, as in old country days, can help keep the heart and circulation healthy. A tea made with the leaves or berries is also a healthy way to keep your blood pressure low, especially when combined with lime flowers and leaves. “Its thorns are like nails; inches long and strong; tight And yet, a milder, more nutritious medicinal plant is unlikely to be found.” – Jim Mcdonald
Bushcraft Food: Making Hawthorn Candy
For today’s article I am sharing excerpts from Alchemy of Herbs about the many healing gifts of hawthorn. I’m also including one of my all-time favorite recipes: Hawthorn Cordial.
Alchemy of Herbs Hawthorn: Transform Everyday Ingredients into Foods and Remedies that Heal by Rosalee de la Forêt (Hay House, 2017)
With heart disease being the number one cause of death in the US, it’s surprising to me that more people don’t know about hawthorn. Before I sound like a snake oil salesman, I should note that people get heart disease for many reasons, and hawthorn is not a silver bullet cure that you can take while ignoring key foundations of wellness like a healthy diet and an active lifestyle.
European culture has long been fascinated with hawthorn, and many myths and bits of folklore surround this thorny tree. Besides being used for medicine, the hard wood of the tree was made into tools and the thick, thorny nature of the tree made it a popular choice as a natural hedge or fence. Various species of hawthorn are native to North America, where First Nations used it to treat a variety of ailments, including wounds and digestive problems. People in China also have a well-developed relationship with hawthorn, often using it for stagnant digestion.
Hawthorn Berry Tea Recipe
In the spring, hawthorn trees produce a mass of beautiful white to pink flowers. After pollination, the tree begins to form many berries that ripen at the end of summer. These