Haw ketchup

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bottle of home-made haw ketchup with pair of small cacti in food tins

The hawthorn, or Crataegus Monogyna, is one of the latest fruiting shrubs of the year. They’re an important source of food for winter visiting birds such as redwings, fieldfares and waxwings.

aluminium colander containing haw berries

I’m sure they didn’t mind sharing just a few with us, so we could make a couple of bottles of haw ketchup!

bottle of home-made haw ketchup with pair of small cacti in food tins

Some people are a bit wary of picking wild, red berries; they’re worried about whether they could be poisonous. I took a photo of the shrub to help with identification!

hawthorn bush

If you’re still unsure, here’s a close up of the berries and their leaves. The haw ketchup recipe we used is from Pam Corbin, aka ‘Pam the Jam’. She’s patron of The Guild of Jam and Preserve Makers, but she’s probably best known as a regular on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s TV programmes and penning the books on preserves and cakes from his River Cottage Handbook series.

bottle of home-made haw ketchup with pair of small cacti in food tins

Haw ketchup

Course Condiment
Cuisine British

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g/18oz haw berries
  • 300 ml/10½ floz cider vinegar
  • 300 ml/10½ fl oz water
  • 170 g/6oz granulated sugar
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Wash a bottle with a vinegar-proof screw-top or stopper before putting them into an oven at 130°C/275°F/Gas mark 1. Alternatively, put both the bottle & screw-top/stopper in a large saucepan and fill with enough water to cover the bottle completely. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 15 minutes
  • Rinse the berries in a large sieve or colander and remove any stalks and leaves
  • Put them in a saucepan with the vinegar and water
  • Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, by which time the berries will have turned a dull brown and their skins will have split to reveal their yellow flesh
  • Tip into a sieve over a clean pan and rub the fruit through with a spoon, leaving the skins and pips behind
  • Add the sugar to the purée in the pan and heat gently, stirring until it dissolves
  • Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often to ensure it doesn't catch
  • Funnel the hot sauce into the hot, clean bottle and seal straight away
This sauce improves with age, so you can leave it for a few weeks before opening. Use within a year and refrigerate once open
Keyword forage, haw, haws, ketchup

Out & about… October

Each day starts with a long walk with the dog. It’s normally a case of put the boots on, grab the lead and go. Our camera is quite cumbersome so it doesn’t get out much. However, last month we decided that we were going to make the effort to take it with us more often on these daily walks.

We’re going to start sharing with you some of the photos that we take when we’re out & about – things that we find beautiful, striking, interesting or fleeting – posting a collection of our favourites each month. This first batch were all taken in & around Todmorden this October.

October heralds the start of autumn with its stunning foliage, fruit, berries & fungi.

We stumbled across this beautiful orange mushroom beside a stream. It must have sprung up overnight – it was so pristine.

We didn’t have to walk far to get this image. These cute, little white-capped mushrooms were growing in a cluster on an old tree stump at the end of our garden.

These amethyst deceivers are plentiful in the local beech woods…

…we picked a few – they’re great in an omelette or salad.

Tempting berries – some edible, some not…

…these juicy elderberries most definitely are – and will soon be turned into jam & jelly.

Todmorden lies in a tree-lined valley, so we get a glorious leaf display around this time of year.

Will one of these grow into a giant oak tree?

After a wet summer, we’ve had much better weather this month. We captured this bee making the most of some lovely autumn sunshine.

This patch of orange crocosmia was growing wild. It looks stunning against the bright blue sky…

…as does this lone, windswept hawthorn tree.

These lovely stone walls criss-cross the fields & hills of the Pennines.

Other fields are divided by wooden fences – they can produce wonderful shadows.

The farms of the area concentrate on hardy livestock – beef & dairy cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens.

October hasn’t all been sunshine. These photos of electricity pylons and a local wind farm were taken under more threatening skies.

And not forgetting a photo of our regular walking companion taking in a view.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this first Out & about post – it’ll be back with more photos next month!