Hawthorn Berry Ketchup

An unusual use of the hawthorn berries

 Ingredients:

• 500g of hawthorn berries

• 300ml of apple cider vinegar

• 300ml of water

• 150g of brown sugar  

• 1/2 tsp sea salt or Himalayan salt

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• ½ tsp allspice powder

• freshly ground black pepper or cayenne pepper

• 2 tbsp tomato puree

 Method:

1. To begin, remove the berries from the stalks and wash well with cold water. Add to a large pan with the water, vinegar and crushed garlic cloves and then bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for approximately 20-30 minutes, until the skins of the berries begin to burst

2. Take off the heat and pour the contents of the pan through a sieve to remove any stones and tough pieces of skin

3. Transfer the liquid to a cleaned out pan with the sugar and place over a low heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar

4. Once dissolved, bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes more, until syrup-like and reduced

5. Add the tomato puree and season the syrup to taste with salt, pepper or cayenne pepper and allspice powder, then transfer to sterilised bottles. The syrup is good to use for 1 year.

Tip: You can also use a mix of hawthorn berries (200g) and rosehips (300g). Rosehips are best after frost, which softens and sweetens them. But you can just put them in the freezer for a day or two. If you ad rosehips you have to strain twice. Once through a sieve and a second time through a muslin to remove any hairs of the rosehips.