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Hawthorn Cordial
When the hawthorn is in full bloom, pick a basketful of the blooms. Take them home, and put the white petals into a large glass bottle, taking care that you put in no leaves or stalks. When the bottle is filled to the top do not press it down, but pour in gently as much good French Brandy as it will hold. Cork and let it stand for three months, then you can strain it off. This is good as a cordial, and if you find it too strong, add water, or sweeten it with sugar.
A hedgerow infusion rather than a cooked recipe: the only real work is picking clean blossom and then waiting. Two things decide whether it is pleasant or bitter — that no green material goes into the jar, and that the petals are not crushed.
- Know the shrubThis is the May blossom of common hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna or C. laevigata — white five-petalled flowers on a thorny hedge shrub, appearing with or just after the leaves. Blackthorn flowers earlier on bare wood and is not the same thing; if you cannot identify the plant with certainty, do not pick it.
- Where you pick mattersAvoid hedges along busy roads, field margins that may have been sprayed, and anything at dog height. Pick on a dry morning after the dew has gone, since damp blossom brings water into the jar and dulls the flavour.
- A basketful, in practiceThe original measures by vessel rather than weight. For a 1-litre jar you might need something in the region of 40-50 g of loose petals, which is a surprising amount of picking.
- No leaves, no stalksThis is the hinge. Green material releases tannin and a grassy bitterness that three months in spirit will only concentrate. Strip the petals over a tray and pick out every fragment of calyx and stem before filling.
- Fill loosely"Do not press it down" is deliberate: packed petals bruise and go brown, and the brandy cannot circulate. Fill to the top lightly, then pour slowly so trapped air escapes and every petal is submerged. Anything left above the surface will discolour.
- "Good French Brandy"Read today, this suggests an ordinary cognac or armagnac at around 40% ABV. Nothing older or more expensive seems called for, since the blossom will dominate; but a harsh brandy stays harsh.
- The three monthsKeep the jar corked in a cool, dark cupboard — light bleaches the petals and flattens the aroma. Strain through a fine sieve lined with muslin, without squeezing the petals, then bottle.
- Sweetening and strengthSugar stirred into a finished cordial dissolves slowly and unevenly. A simple syrup of equal parts sugar and water, added a spoonful at a time to taste, gives a better result; expect somewhere between 50 and 150 ml of syrup per litre depending on how sweet you want it. Serve in small glasses as a digestif.
- One caveat on hawthornHawthorn preparations are used for their effect on the heart and blood pressure, and may interact with cardiac and antihypertensive medication. A liqueur glass is not a dose of anything, but anyone on such medication may wish to treat this as more than a flavouring.
The Belgian Cook Book was compiled in 1915 by Mrs. Brian Luck from recipes given by Belgian refugees who had fled to Britain after the German invasion, and sold in aid of relief funds. The book runs heavily to thrift, hedgerow gathering and things made from what a household could find rather than buy. A cordial of this kind belongs to a long northern European habit of steeping spring flowers in spirit: elderflower, lime blossom, sloe and hawthorn all appear in domestic recipe books across France, Belgium and the Low Countries. Hawthorn in particular carried a double reputation, as the fragrant aub\household household remedy for the heart, a use that later pharmacology took seriously enough to investigate. Recipes like this one, requiring no fuel and no oven beyond the brandy already in the cupboard, are exactly what a displaced cook could still contribute to a charity cookbook.