Having had Elderberry deja vu (I left it too late to harvest them last year too) I will have to do without an Elderberry winter cold tonic and a crack at making Pontack for another year. I do have a winter tonic plan B however.
No problem though because the Hawthorn crop is immense where I live so I thought I'd use the time to have a go at making Hawthorn ketchup. I know the basic ingredients are Haws, vinegar, water, seasoning and sugar but I had to do some research to find out the quantities and ingredient suggestions.
Well there was certainly no shortage of variation! I checked out around half a dozen suggestions from bushcraft and non-bushcraft sources (excuse the pun) and the twenty ingredients listed in total the recipes ranged from four to eleven, several vinegar types got a mention, one site didn't add water and the haw to liquid ratio of those that did varied.
Well there was certainly no shortage of variation! I checked out around half a dozen suggestions from bushcraft and non-bushcraft sources (excuse the pun) and the twenty ingredients listed in total the recipes ranged from four to eleven, several vinegar types got a mention, one site didn't add water and the haw to liquid ratio of those that did varied.
I plumped for the following: 500g of haws (I actually went slightly over to offset the skin and stalks), 300ml of cider vinegar, 300ml of water, 100g of castor sugar (with 150g weighed out if the sauce proved bitter) and several ideas on seasoning.
Hawthorn wood is quite dense so it's ironic that if you try and remove several haws in one go you often find that the branch end comes away too. I've found that scissors are a great way to cut through the cherry like stem and harvest a good number quickly.
So having sorted out several long stalks, leaves and a solitary Hawthorn Shield Bug I added them to the vinegar and water in a pan, brought to the boil and then simmered for around 5-7 minutes. The Haws readily split and having given them a helping mash I then transferred the mix to a sieve and spooned through as much of the gloop as was possible.
Once done the mixture was then left to simmer with the initial 100g of castor mixed in, which upon doing a family taste was upped to 110g.
As it reduced I decided that the seasoning would be four turns of a salt mill, about a quarter teaspoon or so of pepper powder and about half a teaspoon of garlic powder.
As it reduced I decided that the seasoning would be four turns of a salt mill, about a quarter teaspoon or so of pepper powder and about half a teaspoon of garlic powder.
I just left it reducing until it stayed in place on a cold plate, similar to a jam test to see if it is set. I wasn't watching the time as I would base the end on the consistency but I reckon it simmered for half an hour or so.
This amount gave me a 300g bottle full plus enough left over to have with some wedges. Funnily enough the bottle was originally full of chipolte ketchup.
I'm pleased to say that my family tried it and approved.
I has some haws left over so in a clean pan I again boiled them down put this time with just enough water to stop them burning. I added half and half quantities of regular runny and dandelion honey and made some leather in my dehydrator.
Suggested further reading
No comments:
Post a Comment