Berries from the magical Hawthorn tree are one of autumn’s most delicious yet underrated fruits!
The small bunches of ruby red berries are ready to be picked when they are a deep, cherry red and firm but springy to the touch. Take a look at one of our favourite recipes using these delicious berries below - perfect as an accompaniment to your Sunday roast!
INGREDIENTS
- 150g hawthorn berries
- 8tbsp water
- 8tbsp apple juice
- ½tsp of sea salt
- 1 red Thai chilli (thinly sliced)
- 1tsp pink peppercorns (crushed)
- 4 garlic cloves (chopped)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Add the hawthorn berries into a pestle and mortar along with the water and apple juice, and pound softly until the flesh has loosens from the stones. Don’t crush the berries too forcefully because you don’t want to break the stone inside!
2. Remove the stones from the mixture, and mix the chilli, garlic salt and pepper well into the hawthorn mash stirring well.
3. Place your tangy Hawthorn mixture inside a tupperware container and leave to site in a warm place.
4. Give your mixture a gentle mix every day for 3 days - this gives the natural sugars time to ferment and become deliciously tangy! On the third day, remove your relish from the tupperware container and decant into sterilised jars.
Serve as an accompaniment to your cheese-board after a dinner party, or as a condiment to enjoy alongside warm or cold meats. You can RELISH in your own home-made jar of deliciousness!
The relish can be stored in your fridge for up to 1 month - but we’re sure that you won’t be able to resist for that long!
TPT Top Tip: Be very wary of Hawthorn seeds - they are poisonous so be sure to remove all of them from your relish mixture! Much like apple seeds, they contain traces of arsenic and cyanide. It’s perfectly fine to cook the berries containing the seeds, just remove them afterwards.
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