Hawthorn Berry Ketchup Recipe

On an emotional and spiritual level, herbalists identify a strong connection between hawthorn and matters of the heart. It is used to soothe heartache, uplift the mood, and deal with grief.

However, it’s important not to self medicate but to consult a healthcare provider before using hawthorn berries to treat heart conditions.

There’s many ways to preserve hawthorn berries including making jams, jellies, ketchup, sauces, fruit leathers, wine, tincture or drying the berries for tea. Hawthorn berries contain natural pectin which make them the ideal jam-making ingredient.

MAKES: 350ml PREP TIME: 1 hour COOK TIME: 1 hour

Hawthorn berries make a delicious ketchup. It tastes similar to tomato ketchup, but with a tart twist. I enjoy using it with any meals in which I’d usually use ketchup.

You can play around with this recipe, adding or substituting spices to your tastes. 500g fresh, ripe, hawthorn berries, washed

and destemmed

300ml raw apple cider vinegar 300ml water

150g brown sugar or honey

½ tsp fine salt

Spices of your choice which can include: ½ tsp ginger

½ tsp nutmeg

A pinch of cloves, allspice, cayenne,

cardamom, cinnamon, and pepper

Put the clean, destemmed berries into a large cooking pot and cover with the vinegar and water.

Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30-45 mins, until the berries start falling to pieces. Watch carefully near the end as the liquid may start to stick and need stirring.

Take the pot off the stove and mash up the berries with a potato masher as best you can. It really pays to put a lot of muscle into this step and squeeze as much liquid out of the berries as possible.

Next, strain the pulp through a metal sieve and catch the liquid underneath in a clean pot or glass bowl. This part is quite tricky and time consuming, requiring patience and persistence. Use the back of a clean metal spoon to squeeze as much of the pulpy liquid through the sieve as possible. I find it easiest to add small amounts of pulp to the sieve at a time and squish this through, then discard the spent pulp from the sieve before adding fresh pulp.

Discard all the seeds and pulp and return the extracted liquid to a clean cooking pot, making sure no seeds are present.

Add the sugar and spices of your choice. If the sauce is excessively thick, add up to 100mls of water to create a smoother sauce-like consistency.

Stir to dissolve the sugar and mix well, then simmer gently for 5-10 minutes. Stir constantly and do not leave the pot or the sauce will burn. Take off heat, season with salt, allow to cool, and then bottle in a clean sterilised glass jar or bottle.

Store for a month or two to allow flavours to develop before using.

Once opened, keep in the fridge and use within six months.