Hawberry Brandy

Harvested hawberries  

This is a great recipe for anyone looking for an excuse to enjoy an unusual winter spirit. Hawberry brandy is easy to make, yummy to drink, and has the added bonus of being traditionally used by herbalists as a medicinal tincture to regulate cholesterol, improve blood pressure and boost circulation. What more could you ask for?

If you've actually got a heart condition though, do check with your GP before casting aside the cardiac pills and skipping merrily down the hawberry brandy route - according to WebMD.com, it can have some major interactions with common heart medication.

You will need...

Lots of fat, juicy, ripe haw berries (from the Hawthorn tree, also known as Whitethorn)

Some brandy. And that's about it. 

Step 1

Firstly put the haws in the freezer for a few hours - this mimics the frost and softens the berries, saving you the hassle of pricking all the skins with a needle.

The key ingredients: brandy, frozen haws, jar

Step 2

Next sterilise a bottle or Kilner jar, half fill it with haws, pour in the brandy (it must be 40% alcohol - anything less and it's likely to go mouldy) right up to the top of the bottle. Some people add a bit of sugar, but you don't have to.

Screw the lid on tightly and pop it in a dark, cool cupboard for two to three months to macerate. Shake it every few weeks. After a couple of weeks, the colour will start to seep out of the haws and they'll look a bit insipid. This is quite normal.

Step 3

Unlike my other recipes, I'm yet to actually taste this one as it takes such a long time to do its thing, so I'll have to let you know what it's like in December. I'm going to err on the side of caution by freezing some haws now and if it's really delicious, I'll make another batch in the new year.