Can You Eat Hawthorn Berries
You can eat hawthorn berries. You can take them in many ways or as a supplement too. Hawthorn berries contain vitamin C and potassium which helps to maintain strong bones and teeth and maintain blood pressure. However, appropriate dose of hawthorn berries are still undefined.
Please tell me whether the Washington hawthorn berries and leaves are edible, and if so, how they should be prepared. The descriptions should help you identify the Hawthorn berry when you see it, but if you are not sure if you have the Hawthorn berry while foraging, please consult further sources until you are sure, then consume the berries. As with any wild edible, always check twice, as you are still learning leaf, flower, and fruit shapes — to make sure that what you pick is hawthorn. If you actually do find hawthorn heavy with fruit, pay close attention to the spines on the trunk and branches.
The young leaves and flowers of the hawthorn are valuable medicines as well, so get ready to take full advantage. Hawthorn berries, young leaves, and fresh hawthorn flowers are known for their ability to reduce blood pressure, as well as having general heart-tonic effects. Hawthorns young leaves and blossom buds, along with its brilliant red berries, were an important food as well as a remedy, particularly to reduce blood pressure. If you are growing in the spring, rather than fall, right now, you will be happy to hear that hawthorn flowers and leaves are very useful, too, and most of what is true of the berries works with the spring plants as well (with some adjustments).
Hawthorn flowers have a strong, floral smell, that some people have described as a bit stale, but this may differ from variety to variety. Hawthorns red, ripe berries can also be crushed, sieved, and combined with other fruit flavors to create delicious fruit leather, whose recipe is listed below. Ripe berries are also high in pectin, particularly early in the season, making them ideal to make wild apple or plum jam. The haws, or bushels, are extremely high in pectin, so they are especially good to use in making jams, jellies, sugars, and fruit leathers.
The claim of fame of the Hawthorn berries is that they are high in pectin, and thus were added to other fruits for making jellies, since Hawthorns themselves usually had little obvious flavor. While the berries that produce them have no particularly nice flavour if eaten alone, they are frequently mixed in with various other fruits in the production of wine or pies. You can eat the berries fresh, but not much is available, since the stones (the individual seeds of the Common Hawthorn) occupy a large part of each hawthorn, plus the taste is muted–and–some report getting a stomachache eating them raw. The point is, you could eat the leaves, just like snacking, and you can eat the berries, just not the seeds.
This is what was used more frequently for food in Europe back in the day, and most recipes that you will find referring to hawthorns (not mayhaws) are for fruit from this. Because Common Hawthorn has fruit that is red, only has a single seed in each fruit, and leaves that are lobes with a deeper cut, the Common Hawthorn is pretty easy to recognize. Both species are very similar, however, Common Hawthorn fruit has one seed while the Midland Hawthorn fruit has two. The berries mature slightly earlier in fall (than the Washington hawthorn) and have one seed (hence their names).
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| They lower pressure | They can cause digestive problems |
| They are rich in antioxidant | They can cause nausea |
| They are mostly used to improve heart health | Eating hawthorn berries can cause dizziness |
Hawthornberries are sweet and mild when you pick them at just the right time, and I have had them a bit too early in fall the last few years. Since they are not very flavourful themselves, you can just use them for their pectin content, and you can make jellies and jams with other fruits, the Hawthorn will make it settle. I have never encountered Hawthorns that had fruit that was truly great to taste, but they are edible, and when cooked properly, they are not too bad in small amounts. As far as I know, none of the various Hawthorns has any poisonous fruits (except for seeds, which are highly toxic), but I cannot say whether all are great to eat.
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Hawthorns were said to have been eaten in the UK in times gone by to the extent of being called bread and cheese, as though eating Hawthorn leaves was as common a sight on a dinner table as bread and cheese. Hawthorn flakes and hawthorn strips are like guodanpi, but they are not translucent, being more resembling sweets or cookies rather than gelatin. At least one Hawthorns fruit (those from the crataegus monogyna, the monoseed hawthorn) can be made into non-cooked gelatin.
I have read it is possible to use it in the same manner as Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) both as a food and a medicine, but no evidence has been offered of that proposition. If one is harvesting for similar medicinal properties, then harvesting the Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) makes the most sense, since there seems to be no confirmation of whether or not others possess these same properties, or, if they do, what is the comparability in the potency of medicinal properties between the various types. Since the majority of recipes are for Common Hawthorn, and because this is also the one used for its heart-tonic properties, I am focusing on this, which has more details to determine. Since that is the one that most people are looking for, it may just be a matter of, Yes, that is the Common Hawthorn, or No, it cannot possibly be the Common Hawthorn, so go ahead, and do not worry about trying to identify it anymore.
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If you are not in to the hippy/pagan aspects, then you may want to use the hawthorns to help focus you on things that are positive, or things that need healing, etc. There are a lot of things you can do with hawthorn, however: From syrups, tinctures, jellies, etc. Heres how to harvest and use Hawthorn to heal your heart and immune system – it is such an amazing friend of the wild plants for all of us. If you are using hawthorn as treatment and looking for a way to incorporate it into your diet, this recipe for Hawthorn Juice is going to be an amazing addition to your collection.
Hawthorns, which are loaded with fruit, are usually planted as ornamentals, so if your friends happen to own one and they are fine with you picking some of the berries, you will have a simple foraging experience right at your fingertips.
Can humans eat hawthorn?
The Haws berries resemble mild apples, but the flesh is very dry and thick. These work well as a ketchup substitute and tasty jelly to eat with cheese. Haws have also been used to make homemade schnapps and country wines.
What are the health benefits of hawthorn berries?
Hawthorn berries can help protect you against cardiovascular diseases and help lower high blood pressure and cholesterol. Recent studies have also shown that eating hawthorn can increase blood flow and circulation. Moreover, it can be applied to the skin to medicate any boils or skin sores.
What do hawthorn berries taste like?
If you eat raw hawthorn berries, you will notice a taste similar to that of a sweet tart, thus making it an excellent on-the-go snack. However, just like apple seeds, you should avoid eating hawthorn berry seeds as they contain the toxin cyanide.