Hawthorn berries hang out side by side with rosehips in our native hedgerows in the Autumn months, our most abundant season. It is time to harvest, preserve and store the berries in their various guises for the winter months ahead. Deeply nourishing for heart and soul, the hearty hawthorn berries physically heal the heart bringing us courage to face life’s toughest challenges and darkest winters.
Description & Habitat
Full of the fire of Mars energy and heart medicine this spiky protective, robust, familiar hedgerow tree, the Hawthorn is often called May
blossom. Its creamy white and pink flowers are out in force in the month of May, lining our roads and waysides and creating spring snowstorms in the wind. These blossoms are found flowering both masculine and feminine on the same tree. The autumnal hips can be found alongside rosehips, creating a riot of bright colour on dull winter days.
Hawthorn is in the rose family and is distinguishable from the rosehips by its less tangy more pappy flavour and its single seed in the middle. Rosehips have the itching powder multiple seeds covered in a layer of fine hairs. The hips and haws can be almost identical in appearance but generally the rosehips are considerably larger and less perfectly round.
Physical and emotional uses
Hawthorn berries look a lot like a physical representation of the heart. With the idea that plants have a signature to communicate their potential uses with us, there is no denying the affinity of this herb to the heart. It is known to strengthen the blood vessels specifically to the heart thus improving the heart’s function. I have used the herb to give more courage where nerves and anxiety can lead to palpitations. Sometimes it is enough to carry a few of the dried berries in your pocket, almost like worry beads. When a repeated worry arises just rubbing your fingers over the berries can bring calm confidence.
Opening up
It has a strong association with fairies and is considered a doorway to the fairy realm in celtic traditions. We make hawthorn heart brandy and on the odd occasion have noticed profound effects of their incredible opening powers, the gnarly old hawthorn tree, the a guardian of the gateway. It is delicious when mixed with a shot of chilli hot chocolate.
When connecting with the hawthorn, our apprentices have predominantly seen an older man, living alone out in the wilds, seemingly harsh with his tongue but full of love and care if you approach him for a cup of tea. Indeed hawthorn hedges are impossible to penetrate and you’ll soon know with a sharp prick if you’ve harvested too much. But the berries were known in the countryside as ‘bread and cheese’, either because they were thought to contain all you need to survive or because they dull the appetite so were picked and eaten out in the fields to keep the workers satiated until tea time.
Hawthorn Ketchup
Being from the rose family, hawthorn berries have their own pectin in but the general consistency of the ketchup can be quite runny unless you boil it for a long time. We choose to add other hedgerow treats like damsons, rosehips and crab apples into our ketchup
We also use apple concentrate in place of sugar. Its nice to use spices of your choosing to warm up the flavour too our favourites are cloves, ginger, chilli and anise.
Ingredients
500g of hawthorn berries
300ml cider vinegar
300ml water
170g sugar or 200mls apple juice concentrate
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
½ teaspoon ginger powder
¼ teaspoon clove powder (or any other combination of spices you fancy)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Place the berries, water and vinegar in a pan. Simmer gently and start to crush them with a potato masher. When all the berries are nicely softened, place the mix in a sieve and scrape it through to remove the stones from the hawthorn pulp.
Place the sieved pulp, the sugar/apple juice concentrate and the spices into a pan and heat through. Simmer until you have a consistency like brown sauce. If you are using the apple concentrate you will need to reduce the liquid by a third. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a sterile jar or wide rimmed bottle and refrigerate once cool.
Use on mashed potato, falafels, burgers (veggie or other), or anywhere you care to splash it as a delicious condiment.
Hedgerow Medicine
One of our favourite remedies for this time of year is our Recovery Remedy Specially created with the intention of conversance.
For a more in-depth dive into the wonders of plant medicine check out our apprenticeship where you can learn to prepare and use your own herbal remedies created directly from nature on our innovative herbal health training course.
