A Thorny Question

Last time on Name This Food! I posed this tricky one, namely, what the heck are these?

Well, ladles and jellyspoons, it can now be revealed that they are in fact the berries of the Hawthorn.

Now, I know that in both traditional and herbal medicine, extracts of hawthorn have been used, with many people either saying how good it is or how ineffective it is, but I am not going to address those issues because this is a blog about food and those topics are for a different forum. Not only that but I have woefully inadequate knowledge of the topic and have no wish to step into that potential mire.

What we are here to talk about is a little bit of the history behind the hawthorn and its use in comestibles.

Crataegus, commonly called hawthorn, thornapple, May-tree, whitethorn, or hawberry, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America. The name "hawthorn" was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe, especially the common hawthorn Crataegus monogyna, and the unmodified name is often so used in Britain and Ireland. The name is now also applied to the entire genus and to the related Asian genus Rhaphiolepis. The name haw, originally an Old English term for hedge, applies to the fruit.

The "haws" or fruits of the common hawthorn are edible, but the flavour has been compared to over-ripe apples. In the United Kingdom, they are sometimes used to make a jelly or homemade wine. The leaves are edible, and if picked in spring when still young, are tender enough to be used in salads. The young leaves and flower buds, which are also edible, are known as "bread and cheese" in rural England.

The fruits of the species Crataegus pinnatifida (Chinese hawthorn) are tart, bright red, and resemble small crabapple fruits. They are used to make many kinds of Chinese snacks, including haw flakes and tanghulu. The fruits, which are called shānzhā in Chinese, are also used to produce jams, jellies, juices, alcoholic beverages, and other drinks. In South Korea, a liquor called sansachun is made from the fruits.

The fruits of Crataegus mexicana are known in Mexico as tejocotes and are eaten raw, cooked, or in jam during the winter. They are stuffed in the piñatas broken during the traditional pre-Christmas celebration known as Las Posadas. They are also cooked with other fruits to prepare a Christmas punch. The mixture of tejocote paste, sugar, and chili powder produces a popular Mexican candy called rielitos, which is manufactured by several brands.

In the southern United States, fruits of three native species are collectively known as mayhaws and are made into jellies which are considered a great delicacy. The Kutenai people of northwestern North America used red and black hawthorn fruit for food.

On Manitoulin Island in Canada, some red-fruited species are called hawberries. They are common there due to the island's alkaline soil. During the pioneer days, white settlers ate these fruits during the winter as the only remaining food supply. People born on the island are now called "haweaters". In Iran, the fruits of Crataegus (including Crataegus azarolus var. aronia, as well as other species) are known as zalzalak and are eaten raw as a snack, or made into a jam known by the same name.

So, now that we've all been edjumacated, let's have a recipe, shall we?

Hawthorn Berry Wine from lowcostliving.co.uk

This is an easy hawthorn berry wine recipe, the most difficult thing is picking the hawthorn berries. Be prepared with antiseptic cream for your scratches!

Hawthorn is found growing wild and as a hedging plant. If foraging for the berries do be careful about venturing onto private land as the owner may well want the berries for himself.

Never strip a tree bare or take more than you can use just because it is there. A lot of wild birds depend on hawthorn berries to get them through the winter.

Ingredients 

2 to 3lbs Ripe Hawthorn Berries
2 Oranges
1 Lemon
3lb Sugar, preferably Demerara but white granulated will do
1 Gallon Water
Wine Yeast (A general wine yeast)
Yeast Nutrient

Method

Strip the berries from the stalks, a fork makes this an easier task. Wash well. If you immerse the berries in cold water for a few minutes, any hidden insects will float off.
Place into a fermenting bin or wine bucket and crush a little. A traditional potato masher is ideal for this.
Boil the water and pour over the crushed berries. Put the lid on the bin and leave for 7 days, stirring daily.
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.
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.
Add the yeast and yeast nutrient, allow to ferment for 3 or 4 days.
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
Rack, as necessary, and add 1 Campden tablet after the first racking to stop secondary fermentation.
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.

For winemaking equipment and yeasts etc. head to your nearest home brew supplier or go online to http://www.home-brew-online.com



Hawthorn berry ketchup

Ingredients

500g of hawthorn berry
300ml of cider vinegar
300ml of water
170g of sugar
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method

1 To begin, remove the berries from the stalks and wash well with cold water. Add to a large pan with the water and vinegar, then bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for approximately half an hour, until the skins of the berries begin to burst.
2 Take off the heat and pour the contents of the pan through a sieve to remove any stones and tough pieces of skin.
3 Transfer the liquid to a clean pan with the sugar and place over a low heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar.
4 Once dissolved, bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes more, until syrup-like and reduced.
5 Season the syrup to taste with salt and pepper, then transfer to sterilised bottles. The syrup is good to use for 1 year.

Credit: Monica Shaw

Okey-dokey then. My pal Laura from Baltimore has requested something a little less taxing for the next Name This Food!  I don't want to make it too easy though, so what to do, what to do?

Name This Food!