Harvesting Rose Hips and Haws

[happybonzo]

Any suggestions for the best way of harvesting Rose Hips and Haws?

I've seen these Berry Pickers on Ebay. Has anyone used them? LINK (http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=berry+picker+tool&hl=en&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1024&bih=611&wrapid=tlif134940670437310&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=18350852872918727175&sa=X&ei=ElBuUNHYK4Sf0QXAtYHABA&ved=0CFYQ8wIwAQ)

[AdrianRose]

In twenty odd years of foraging, I've never found anything that works as well as my fingers for picking Rosehips and Haws.

Ade.

[fish]

same here,nimble fingers is whats needed ,if it was quick and easy it wouldnt be called foraging itd be called getting! lol

[_Matt_]

Is it just me or do hawthorn berries taste awful? Like eating cardboard.

[AdrianRose]

Is it just me or do hawthorn berries taste awful? Like eating cardboard.

Depends what ya do with them pal. We make gallons of Hawberry Sweet and Pepper sauce every year. Great with all game especially pheasant and pigeon.

Ade

[fish]

Depends what ya do with them pal. We make gallons of Hawberry Sweet and Pepper sauce every year. Great with all game especially pheasant and pigeon.

Ade


we need that recipe!

[Tigger004]

May be someone can post the recipe and the time of year harvest should happen (ie after first frost etc)

[AdrianRose]

I'll post the recipe this evening guys. Having to type everything out with one finger at the moment on my iPhone as my laptop is currently being defragged.

Ade.

[AdrianRose]

Hawberry Sweet & Pepper Sauce

Hi folks as promised, here is the recipe for Hawberry Sweet & Pepper Sauce, as the name implies the sauce is both sweet and peppery at the same time. It can be used either warmed up or cold as a dip.

It is suitable for rich meats such as pigeon, venison and is especially good drizzled over pheasant risotto.

It is simplicity itself to make - as all good recipes should be.

For those of you that are not sure, Hawberries are best picked when they are plump and a deep red colour. Squeeze one or two between your finger tips - if they squish easily then they are good to harvest. If they are still hard then wait another week and try again.

I always double the quantities below as we have an abundance of Hawberries here and we love the sauce so much!!

ok here goes....

1.5Kg Hawberries (Haws)
600ml Cider Vinegar
800ml water
450g sugar
A tablespoon of fresh, coarsely ground black pepper corns

Remove any leaves and woody stalks from the Haws (its ok to keep some of the thin finer stalks if any sneak in) then give the berries a wash to remove and mud, bird poo, creepy crawlies etc etc

Place the berries, water and cider vinegar into a large sauce pan or stock pot and gently bring to the boil, once at boiling point lower the temperature and simmer gently till the berries become squishy (that's a technical term! lol) and lose there colour.

You will have a very strong vinegar smell coming from your pan but don't worry as you wont taste it.

Once you have gently simmered the berries remove from the heat and strain through a jam bag or doubled over sheet of muslin. Once all the liquid has drained through, give the muslin bag a really good squeeze to get all the juice out. You should just be left with the pulp.

Return all of the liquid to a clean sauce pan and return to the boil, at this point add the sugar and freshly ground pepper corns and continue to simmer until all the sugar has melted.

Pour the mixture whilst still hot into sterilised bottles.

This will keep for at least a year (I'm still using a two year old bottle now). The sediment and crushed pepper corns will settle to the bottom of the bottle, just give it a good shake when you want to use it.

Serve cold or re-heated with rich game meats. Strange as it sounds its also really good on vanilla icecream too!!

Enjoy!!

Ade

[paulthefish2009]

I've got a gallon of hawberry wine on the go.To answer the earler question,dont think there is a easy way to pick em,just need a little patience.Paul

[happybonzo]

Thanks for sharing the recipe :)

[AdrianRose]

Thanks for sharing the recipe :)

No problem at all mate. Glad I could be of help.

If you have a go at it, let me know what you think.

All the best
Ade.

[AdrianRose]

Well the instructions from the Doctor for the torn muscle in my back was to sit at home and do light movements, only walk on even ground and no heavy lifting.

After looking out of the window and seeing all the Hawberries in the top field I thought "Sod that, he's only a Doctor, what does he know?!"

So with trug in hand I set off to gather the aforementioned Hawberries.

Mistake number one!! After struggling home with a trug containing 2Kg of berries that I had to stretch for with a torn Serratus Anterior muscle in my back, I had a sneaking suspicion that maybe the Doctor could possibly have been right.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/23/9a8u6ema.jpg

So after a marathon session of de-stalking and washing the berries....

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/23/3ebuvyde.jpg

Into the pan they go with the water and cider vinegar for a good 10-15 mins hard boiling.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/23/ene9ybuh.jpg

Then strain off the pulp with fine cheese cloth....

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/23/a8y7a8yp.jpg

Add sugar and fresh ground pepper corns to the strained off liquid and return to the boil.....

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/23/8avygaje.jpg

Once the sugar has all melted away, transfer to sterilised bottles and there we have it....

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/23/ny6y8ydu.jpg

Now I just need a brace of Pheasant for accompaniment although that bloody Doctor was annoyingly correct and my back is killing me so they will have to wait for another day.

Ade.

[f0rm4t]

Nice one Ade!
Sorry to hear about your back though champ, nothing worse!!