Drying Haw Berries, Haw Jelly and Haw wine

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 28/09/08 at 02:09:44 pm

A few days ago Dave and I went out and collected a big bag of haw’s. I have had these haws lying around my house for a while and I decided it was about time I did something with them. 

Drying Haw’s

I looked all over the place for information on this, I think that sun drying would probably be the best way to dry Hawthorn berries. Laying them out on a baking tray in the morning and returning in the evening. I would have to go to the park and do this as my yard faces north and subsequently does not get much sun. So I put them in the oven on a low heat, yes it is a waste of electricity but I did put them in straight after the oven was used before turning the oven on, meaning I used a little of the heat leftover. Not entriely convinced this will work. I will return and edit this post with some results.

Haw Jelly

Firstly I made Haw Jelly, this was first introduced to me as my present from the secret selfsufficientish santa a couple of Christmas’s ago and I have loved the stuff ever since. Pretty easy stuff to make. The recipe that I use is inspired by some ofthe ishers on our web forum.

Ingredients

• 1 lb of Haws (500g)
• 1.5 pints of water (800mls)
• 3 crab apples
• 2 cooking apples

Method

Boil until the haws and the apples are all mushy. Then get a muslin cloth/jelly bag or an old CLEAN t-shirt pour in the mushy liquid, tie up some where (cupboard handles are a good spot) and strain through into a bowl. This is best done slowly even overnight as apparently squeezing it can make the jelly go cloudy, but I have no patience and tend to give it a helping hand. I am not puritan after all.

Measure our what liquid you have left and pour in the same amount of sugar. So one pint of sugar to each pound of liquid, 500g per 500ml. Then boil until you reach setting point. To test this put a saucer in the freezer for a bit, then dollup the jelly onto every now and then, when it seems to set and not run all over the saucer it is ready to put into sterilized jam jars.

It makes about three Marmite sized jars full. Unless like me you drop one into the rest of the big pile of haws and end up with a big jammy mess of haws.

Don’t drop a half filled

Hawthorn Berry Wine.

There are probally a few hawthorn berry wine recipes out there that are tried and tested, if you are reading this near or in September 2008 then I can’t tell you if this recipe is any better than any of the others. If you are reading it in or after the spring of 2009 then there might be an update and so you should look for it to find the taste.

Ingredients

• Four pints(2 litres) of Hawberries (fill a pint glass four times with them)
• 1 lb (500g) of chopped raisins (don’t go looking to buy them ready chopped do it yourself lazy tyke)
• 2.5 lb (1.25 kg) Sugar
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 gallon of sugar
• 1 campden tablet
• 15g yeast and 10g yeast nutrient.

Take out the stalks and all the bits of twigs. Rinse the Haw berries with cold water. Pour six pints of water over the top of them and leave loosely covered for a couple of hours.  No it is crushing time, squeeze every last berry with your hands so that you get right messy (make sure you have washed your hands).

Add the raisins and lemon juice leave for 24 hours in a fermentation bin if you have one, otherwise a steralized bucket covered in a tea towel.

After the 24 hours is up stir in the sugar when you are sure it has disolved add the  yeast and yeast nutrient. Keep covered in a warm place for 5-7 days depending on how busy you are.

Strain into a demi-john fit an airlock and leave for about 3 months, rack* then bottle after a month. Storing the bottles on their side.

*Syphon into another demi-john leaving the sediment.

2 Comments

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1. Not the Andy Hamilton who worked at Chatham Dockyard in the 1960s? Haws is the plural of haw so why the apostrophe? Just collected loads of haws – I’m torn between jelly, wine or sauce (found elsewhere). Watch this space ……

   Comment by paul turner — October 13, 2008 #

2. Despite having many jobs I have never worked at Chatham Dockyard, I am also 34 so the 1960′s are out too. Lot of Andy Hamilton’s about mate, just look at the wiki page for us.

   The apostrophe is to keep people like yourself on your toes. I throw in a few deliberate mistakes to make life interesting.

   I was torn with what to do with my haws and so did as much as I can, it is not as if they are in short supply. It is noteworthy that the sediment is starting to build up so I will no doubt rack within a month and I will be tempted to rack 2 or 3 times in total and perhaps even ferment for 6 months not 3. So also watch this space.

   Comment by andyhamilton — October 17, 2008 #

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