As the air gets crisper and the nights get longer, the scent of the final harvests start to linger in the air. I feel like a squirrel, scampering around gathering what’s still available before I settle in for the winter.

I love autumn! It has so many offerings. As the fruit on the trees and vines ripen, I hear them call to me, “Pick me!”  Most people think apples, pumpkins and grapes, but, honestly, picking the Hawthorn (Crataegus, spp.) haws (berries) makes me giddy. I’ve been waiting since spring to finish off my Hawthorn tincture, when I started with blossoms and leaves in May, lots of ♥ and intentions going into that batch.

Beautiful fragrant blossoms

Hawthorn is one of our cardio superstar herbs, physically as well as emotionally. It strengthens and supports the heart muscle, as well as mends and soothes a broken heart. I can honestly say, we all need some mending and soothing during these tumultuous times and Hawthorn is right there for us all. I don’t remember seeing the trees so full of haws before.

Check out all those haws!

Haws leftover after making tincture

On a lovely autumn day, Mike and I strolled through the Finger Lakes National Forest picking hand full of haws from every tree that we came across. When we got home, it was obvious that we had way more haws than needed to complete our tincture, so I decided to make some jam (I love eating my medicine). To be perfectly honest, I am not a jam maker, I used to “help” my college roommate make jam but that’s it for my experience and it was a very long time ago. My first step when making anything new is to comb through recipes and combine bits and pieces that seem to make sense. One thing that stood out with every recipe I came across was that they all had a step that involved straining the simmered haws through cheesecloth or a jelly bag. Well, that just didn’t seem to make sense to me ~ I don’t prefer clear jam and perhaps the process of filtering would remove some significant nutrients and fiber. Therefore, I decided to use a food mill instead. And folks, it came out fabulous, with a yummy sweet and tart flavor. Just ask my 88 year old mother, who loves it and keeps asking for more.

YUM!

Hawthorn Jam

The recipe can be increased or decreased depending on the amount of liquid you extract from the haws. There is enough natural pectin in the haws so you don’t need to add any.

All you need is:

Fresh haws

Organic cane sugar

Organic lemons

•Gather at least a pound of Hawthorn haws ~ clean, rinse and drain.

•Put the haws into a heavy saucepan, and cover with at least three inches of water.

•Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour. Mash the haws with a potato masher every 20 minutes.

•Once haws are mushy, put mixture through food mill, use smallest size strainer.

•For every cup of hawthorn juice, add 1 cup of organic cane sugar.

For every cup of hawthorn juice, add the juice of one organic lemon.

•Combine the sugar and lemon juice into a heavy saucepan along with the hawthorn juice.

•Bring the mixture to a rapid boil, stirring continuously until the sugar has dissolved.

•Keep a rapid boil going for about 30 minutes uncovered, or until the liquid has reduced in half or until the jelly has reached setting point. (Since I’m not a jelly maker, I didn’t know what a “setting point” was so reducing it in half worked fine for me.)

•Skim off any foam from the top of the jam liquid, pour into sterilized, warm jars and screw on the lids.

•Enjoy!

We started to eat our jam immediately and put the leftovers in the refrigerator. However, if you would like to share it, during these bountiful times you should use the warm water bath method to preserve it.

What do you like to gather in the fall? Please share and I will continue to share.

All information is shared for educational purposes only and has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.