The Harvest Moon shone bright and beautiful in the sky at the beginning of the week and it seems there is no denying it any longer, autumn is here.
Autumn signifies many things to many people but for me, aside from its obvious beauty, it represents a time of community and friendship. I normally like to go out harvesting alone and wander in silence amongst the plants and the trees but in autumn there is something so special about gathering together with a friend and filling your baskets with the glorious bounty of the land. Now is the final celebration of the abundance and generosity of Mother Nature before we start to withdraw against the harsh onslaught of the winter months and what better way to celebrate than with each other.
I have been blessed to go out berry harvesting with two lovely friends and wonderful herbalists, Therri and Mindy this month and have spend a great afternoon with my lovely husband collecting Hawthorn berries and sloes.
When up in my favourite elder picking spot we noticed both flower and fruit on the same tree. This is something I have never seen before, have you? Excuse the poor quality photo, the light wasn’t great that day.
The result of these outings was lovely fresh tinctures, dried berries and lots of delicious syrups!
My first syrup making session was with elderberry, unbeatable for tastiness and immune supporting goodness for the colder months. I have already posted my method for elderberry syrup making here, so I won’t repeat myself but this year I added a vanilla bean to the ginger, cardamom, clove and orange peel and it turned out really well, so tasty I keep sneaking to the fridge for an extra spoonful.
Next up was the hawthorn berry syrup. The Hawthorns round here have been so fat and large this year and the trees literally dripping in them. I wonder if that means we are in for another hard winter.
I made a simple hawthorn and ginger syrup by simmering them together in a pan with enough water to cover, straining the liquid and adding an equal amount of raw honey once the liquid had cooled sufficiently. I use a fair amount of ginger because I love the resulting taste of the two combined but you can adjust according to preference.
You can tell when it is almost ready because the berries start to loose their colour. I simmered mine on a low heat for about half an hour.
It’s basically the same technique as the elderberry syrup but it’s good to store your hawthorn syrup in jars rather than bottles because the berries are high in pectin which means it can set like a jelly and you’ll need to be able to spoon it out. The more of the thicker, mushy liquid you strain into the end product the more likely it will set. There is lots of goodness in this bit too however, so I say go for it. Do be warned though as I can’t imagine many things more dissapointing than being unable to get at all my delicious syrup because it had set in the bottle.
Look how firm the resulting syrup/ jelly is here on our morning porridge.
Finally, the pièce de résistance was the five berry syrup I made which included elderberries, blackberries, hawthorn berries, rose hips and sloes. I used the same technique again but this time added no spices or other flavourings and just let the natural flavour of the berries shine through. It’s so yummy I am wishing I had made litres of it!
This syrup feels so vital and nourishing and is packed with antioxidants and other immune supportive constituents.
Another advantage is that it gives you a wonderful opportunity to polish up your Lady Macbeth impression.
“Out, damn’d spot! out, I say!—One; two: why, then
’tis time to do’t.—Hell is murky.—Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and
afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our
pow’r to accompt?—Yet who would have thought the old man to
have had so much blood in him?”
Watch out amateur dramatics… here I come.
I hope your autumn has also been full of harvests and community or anything else that nourishes your soul.
now I rather like the look of that five berry syrup – I dont know where I’m going to find more elderberries around here though! I have yet to do much mucking around with hawthorn berries this year – are you using fresh root ginger in your hawthorn ginger syrup recipe, or dried? I much prefer fresh and will probably go for that but wanted to check first before I start concocting! I have done a really fantastic hedgerow conserve this year with sloes in, which I will post the recipe for sometime over the next few days all being well. I love autumn, everything about it is an absolute delight 😀
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Hi Ali,
The elderberries are all over here now too, you could try adding some dried ones if everything else is fresh maybe?
Yes I used fresh ginger, I much prefer the taste of it too, less smoky. And dry ginger is a bit drying for most people other than the most phlegmatic!
I will very much look forward to you conserve recipe!
xxx
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I happened to recently read (well, it WAS is “The Famous Five Survival Guide” I bought for my daughter…I was only flicking through, really!), that elderberries are poisonous raw as they contain toxic levels of cyanide, which is neutralised by cooking! Is this true (as an Aussie I’ve never seen an elderberry let alone tasted one)?! I actually bought a small Elder plant recently, you can’t imagine how excited I was to find one in a nursery here, and it mentions using the flowers, but there’s no mention of the berries at all, though in my copy of Juliette de Bairacli-Levy she talks about using the berries straight! Wikipedia says the berries are ok, only the leaves, twigs and seeds are dangerous. Help, I’m confused!
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Hi Christina,
The berries do have low levels of toxicity (much less than bark and leaves though) but you can eat a few without worrying, just if you eat lots you’ll end up with a stomach ache or feeling very sick. Cooking does neutralise them, as does tincture making. I always taste a few but I leave it at that no matter how tempting it may be!
I’m excited to hear you have a tree, they say that you should plant an elder in the middle of your herb garden.
The Famous Five Survival Guide sounds great!!
Take care and enjoy your wonderful elder. x
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Oh how I wish I could go out berry picking with you! How much fun would that be ? 🙂 Your syrups all sound so delicious, I just love the spices you’ve chosen to put in your elderberry syrup and the vanilla bean is just a stroke of pure genius if you ask me! Hawthorns aren’t very prolific round these parts and I’m still searching for one, and I will search even harder know that I’ve your lovely sounding hawthorn-ginger concoction to inspire me. And might I say, when I finally get my horror film screen play about the herbalist who went mad, you know who I’ll be calling for the lead…
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One day we shall berry pick together my love, one day. Until then we’ll harvest together in spirit.
I like the sound of your script… “Herbalists From Hell”…. there are so many possibilities… 🙂
Love to you xxxx
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Lucinda…ecstasy for certain! I am in the same longing for hawthorne woes as Danielle…so few in my neck of the woods, but I will forge ahead with hope in my step to the few I know of and hope the birds left a few red ones for me. Your berry potions are gorgeous! I will try a mixed berry now. Our blackberries just didn’t seem to happen this year..so so sad…but I am just so excited to make a mixed syrup that I’ll find something!
xo
Carey
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Hi Carey, I wish you luck with your hunting, may the Hawthorn Goddess guide your steps to her bounty.
The mixed berry one really is yummy, maybe you could try with some autumn raspberries or something if the blackberries aren’t up to the job?
Take good care xxxxx
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Thanks so much for the info, Lucinda! I’ve put my Elder in a large pot for now, as (fingers crossed) we’re hoping to move to a more rural (ie. quieter and more spacious!) area next year and I’m intending to take several of my favourite plants with me. The middle of a lovely new and BIG herb garden sounds like a good place for it!
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Simply beautiful berry photos! Happiness is a gorgeous elderberry! I love your blog, Lucinda, and always find it joyful and inspiring! Blessings!
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Thank you so much Camille. Comments such as yours are a real pleasure for me to receive. Many blessings to you too.
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I just found your blog and as I write I have the five berry syrup simmering in my kitchen…unfortunately not many rosehips so maybe four and a half berry syrup is more apt…I can’t wait to try it. Thankyou!
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Oh great, I hope you love it as much as I do. Thanks for letting me know.
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It is always a pleasure to visit your blog Lucinda. It opens up my heart and feeds my soul. I have picked alone this year but for me, that is the right way. I am a loner by nature…although, of course, I do love people too 🙂
Seeing your friend peeping through the hawthorn made me smile…….she is very pretty and it is a lovely image.
My father picked sloes for me this autumn…..he does it every year. I don’t know how, as he is so fragile. It is something he does with a lot of love in his heart……..
My cupboard is full of lovely tinctures and syrups and that is tks to you.
You have opened doors for me, that have been closed for too long.
I will always be grateful to you, and if ever I can repay you, you know where I am 🙂
Tku once again for the inspiration and your lovely images.
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Hi Cheryl,
Thank you so much for your beautiful and kind words. We have inspired each other equally I think. 🙂
It moved me to hear of your Dad’s sloe picking. The best medicine is always that which is suffused with love.
Love to you xx
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As you remember, I finally found hawthorn here this year… well I managed to get a good harvest and will be making your syrup recipe, thank you so much for sharing it! YUM! I giggled at your Lady MacBeth! Lovely photos dear:) thank you for sharing everything:) Would love to try a sloe someday… xoxoxoxox
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I’m so glad you managed a good harvest this year. It’s such a wonderful herb you’ll never want to be without it again! I hope you enjoy the syrup.
Lots of love to you xxx
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Oh I have enjoyed hawthorn dried, from ordering it before, and have used it in teas and in alcohol extraction, Happy to get to try them fresh now:) Ours has a crunchy texture and tastes a bit like a spicy pear! lol! I am using its leaves as part of kitten Cloudpaws herbal poultice. Will let you know how that goes as working at drawing out an infection absess in his right forepaw and under his left leg! Poor little man.. I have no idea how he got these, unless his siblings clawed him and it infected…xxxx
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Kitten Cloudpaws, that might be the cutest name ever!!
Spicy pear hawthorns sound very interesting! Ours are fairly bland in flavour with a thick, slightly creamy, slightly grainy texture. It’s fascinating how the flavours can vary so much according to environment isn’t it.
I hope little Cloudpaws feels better soon… please post some more pictures of them sometime! 🙂 xxx
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I have off Friday from the children, so I will post some more pictures then:) Yes, ours seem to be a bit tasty, but very stingy on the size! Yours are monsters compared to mine! lol! BTW, Cloudpaw’s abcess ruptured this weekend… maybe now we can get it cleared for good and he can walk without being lame. Amazing how the little feller managed to get around with only two good legs! will keep you posted:) big hugs xoxoxo
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This is so cool! I remember rose hips growing near my house, I just didn’t know what they where. My dad always thought they were a type of plumb because they grew near the wild plumb bushes.They were SO bitter.
I think we had hawthorn berries too, but I thought they were poisonous. lol
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Hi Ayra,
I hope that now you know them you can enjoy them with confidence! Sloes are related to plums and look a bit like them, was that what your Dad meant? Rose hips, hawthorns, sloes and plums are all in the rose family so he wasn’t too far off anyway! x
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[…] Katie saw a Red-shoulderd Hawk and a Monarch on her coast Douglas-Fir (link). Lucinda did syrup with the berries from her Hawthorne (link). […]
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[…] you! I was hoping you’d come back! Walked through a field of bulls and lived. Made Lucinda’s Hawthorn Ginger Syrup. Been driven by the most cantankerous bus driver currently living (and […]
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just found your site and so excited for lots of reasons. I live in NE Scotland and have loads of haws hips and elderberries locally, just picked sloes with dad in Northumberland today for returning home and have a freezer full of brambles this year so 5 berry syrup being made this weekend when I get home.
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Wonderful! I hope you enjoy it.
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