Hawthorn Berry Syrup {refined sugar-free}
This syrup is slightly sweet with a hint of tart. How much honey you add depends on how sweet your berries are + your preference. The tiny bit of lemon helps round out the flavors. This syrup would be great...On a yogurt parfait, ice cream, pancakes, mixed with some vinegar, olive oil, s + p for a salad dressing or mixed in some champagne for a belinni!
Servings: 1 cups
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh hawthorn berries, picked through + washed
- 3 cups water
- 1 tsp honey, or more if desired
- 1 small squeeze lemon, or more if desired
Instructions
- Bring water + berries to a boil. Turn down heat + boil for 30 minutes, stirring often to not let the berries burn on the bottom. When you get about half-way through cooking the berries, use a potato masher to mash berries. Continue to stir + mash occasionally (more frequently towards the end as the berries thicken) until berries have broken down. Add more water + cook longer if necessary.
- Set a fine-mesh strainer over a large glass/stainless bowl and use a metal spoon to push pulp + juice through the strainer, avoiding any seeds (the seeds are large enough that they should not go through a fine-mesh strainer). Continue to do this for a while until pulp reduced to about 1/3 of what you started with. For 4 cups of berries + 3 cups water I got 1.5 cups syrup. You want to get some of the pulp in there to help thicken the syrup. If you are more patient than me you could keep going and probably get more out of it:).
- While the syrup is still warm add in honey + lemon to taste. Start with a tsp of honey and a small squeeze of lemon. You may not even need to add honey if your berries are sweet enough for you.
- Store in a mason jar in the fridge. The syrup will thicken as it sits in the fridge.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Recipe guidance from...
https://practicalselfreliance.com/hawthorn-jelly/