October 2008 - There have been a few frosts now and it's changed the wild food landscape a bit. There are still wild fruits that are now just reaching the right moment to pick - including some of the relatives of common Hawthorn.
Cockspur Thorn
What is Cockspur Thorn?
Crataegus crus-galli - a small-to-medium sized tree with oval, toothed leaves and bright red fruits about 10mm in diameter. It's native to North America, but is quite frequently planted ornamentally in parks and urban green spaces.
The branches are armed with impressive, needle-sharp thorns up to 50mm long, although there are thornless varieties that are sometimes planted.
The fruits are borne in handful-sized clusters and ripen fully after a little frost
Roman Hawthorn
What is Roman Hawthorn?
Crataegus aemula - A tree very much resembling common hawthorn when seen from a distance, however, a closer examination reveals the differences - the leaves are simple ovals in shape and are thick, leathery and creased.
But the most conspicuous difference is the fruit, which is bright scarlet, glossy and big - up to 30mm in diameter and resembling a small apple.
It's not always a great idea to pick wild foods growing right by a roadside, but this is a quiet residential street that receives only occasional traffic, so it's fairly clean.
I tasted one of these raw - they're exactly like ordinary Haws.
Picking And Using These Fruits
The fruits are large, borne in convenient clusters and separate easily from their stalks - it took me only about fifteen minutes to pick a couple of kilos into my basket. (Cockspur haws on the right, Roman haws on the left)
They're significantly more fleshy than common haws, so they ought to yield a good quantity of fruit pulp.
I'll probably use them to make some kind of savoury sauce or ketchup, but I don't have enough time (or empty bottles) at the moment, so I just washed, destalked and picked over the fruits, then bagged and froze them for later.
Freezing will probably help break them down and permit a better extraction of pulp and juice when I get around to cooking them.
Update: on the next page, I used some of these fruits to make Hawthorn Brandy.
