A sauce that slots nicely in your cupboard between Tomato Ketchup and Brown Sauce
This ketchup has certainly been very well received by everyone I've offered it to and definitely worth the effort of making it. The sauce is excellent with cheeses and cold meats either on it's own or mixed with Lacto Wild Garlic. It's also a fine competitor of red and brown sauce when it comes to using with fried breakfast items - especially wild mushrooms on toast! Over the years I've learned of ways to speed up the process of collecting and processing the Haws so it's now not as laborious a task as it was when I first tried making this condiment. When I started I picked fruits individually and then when processing the pulp from the stones I used a sieve and wooden spoon. Today I use a berry collector and food mill and can make much more ketchup in the same amount of time. The only time consuming bit now is to remove the stalks from the fruit.
Finding Hawthorn is one of the easisest tasks for a forager. It's easy to identify and prolific anywhere around fields when hedging is used to create boundaries. In this environment the main hedge species are Blackthorn (Sloe) and Hawthorn. In a 'normal' year you can find your spots with your nose in May as at this time the Hawthorn flowers giving off an almond aroma and is traditionally known as May Blossom.
Soon after the blossom the Haws appear but they are very small and green. Over the coming weeks the fruits will swell (slowly) and start to redden - becoming more and more obvious. It will get to the point where the hedges will appear to turn red where hawthorn is abundant. It is 'not' time to pick the Haws yet to make ketchup - if you do you will most probably make jam and if you have bottled that jam you will struggle to get it out! At this point it's much better to make a fruit leather or indeed a jam. To make the ketchup you need to wait. I like to wait until the berries start to darken and then it's time to get at them...
Ingredients
Ingredients
Method
- Chop 1kg Wild Garlic and mix with 20g to 30g of salt - squash down and leave overnight for juices to extract.
- Compress the well mixed contents to expell air and also to submerge under the wild garlic juices.
- Place a glass or other 'weight ' ontop of the vegetables to raise the liquid level further to help submerge the vegetables.
- Leave at least a 3rd of the vessel empty to allow for the ferment to breath as the bacteria does it's thing.
- Each day check the ferment and push the vegetable mass back down to expel the gas and 'burp' the ferment.
- The ferment should be ready to start eating after around a week - depending on the warmth of where the fermentation is taking place.
- After two weeks place inside a fridge to slow down the fermentation process - or freeze to stop in it's tracks.
- Enjoy!
Method
- Wash and de-stalk the haws you have collected.
- Once clean pour your water and vinegar into a pan and add the haws.
- Bring the pan to a simmer and leave to allow the skins to split and the fruit meat to expand, soften and start to break away from the stones.
- After about 30 minutes or so the haws shpould be ready for the next stage.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool to a warm (not scalding) temperature.
- Now for the hard work (if you are using a sieve and wooden spoon) or slightly less hard work if you are using a food mill... Use either method to separate the stones and skins from the pulp. Be sure to scrap the pulp from the back of the sieve/foodmill and add to the rest of the separated mix.
- Mix the pulp and liquid together in a clean pan. It is now time to add the sugar and reduce to your desired consistency.
- Once the sauce has reached the thikness you like - season with salt & pepper. This sauce is great with a lot of pepper added and if you want a bit of additional kick add the cayenne too.
- While still hot add to sterilised bottles or jars.
- The sauce can be used straightway but comes into it's own after being left for a couple of months.
- Enjoy!
