As a food product, organic hawthorn berries are most commonly used to make a pleasant herbal tea or infusion. They can also be used to create syrups, jellies, and sauces, or added to other tea blends to impart a gentle, fruity flavour.
Hawthorn berries have a distinctly tart, tangy, and slightly sweet flavour, similar to a crabapple or rosehip. When brewed as a tea, they produce a mild, fruity, and easy-to-drink beverage.
To make tea, use 1-2 teaspoons of whole dried berries per cup. As the berries are tough, it's best to lightly crush them first and simmer them in water for 10-15 minutes, or steep in just-boiled water for at least 15-20 minutes in a covered cup to extract the full flavour.
Hawthorn is a well-known traditional herb. If you have any existing medical conditions, particularly related to the heart or blood pressure, or are taking any prescription medications, you must consult with your healthcare professional before consuming hawthorn products.
All three parts are used, but they have different characteristics. The berries provide a fruity, tangy element perfect for teas and syrups. The leaf and flower have a more subtle, astringent, and 'green' flavour and are often used together in traditional herbal tea blends.
Hawthorn (genus Crataegus) is a large family of shrubs and trees native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia, and North America. The small, red berries, known as 'haws', are harvested in the autumn.
