Hawthorn

"The Oak, the Ash and the Thorn", three enchanted trees in ancient folklore. And the Thorn, the smallest of the three is rich in legend.

The Thorn - Hawthorn is just one of its names - is a gnarled, stubbly tree that, whatever its age, never seems to reach its full growth potential. Wherever you choose to grow it, it's a tree you cannot tame. It always retains the spirit of the wild, bending with the prevailing wind, curling up around itself, protecting its centre. It is this defensive characteristic that has given it the herbalist signature of the Heart, and its leaves, flowers and berries have historically been used as a medicine to treat cardiac conditions.

The Hawthorn – also called Whitethorn and May Tree – has many stories to tell. In ancient times this was a tree of revelry and potency. A sacred tree that symbolised renewed life, fertility and union. It became our faerie tree, the shrub that we adorned with ribbons and rags and fragments of our clothing, a gift for the fairy folk that dwelled in the tree.

But then things changed for the Hawthorn. As puritanical religion took a stronger hold, the May Tree was no longer a symbol of joy and beginning. Instead it came to represent abandonment, misfortune and bad luck. No  longer a symbol of revelry, it was used to promote abstinence and chastity. Marriages were forbidden during the hawthorn month of May.

The characteristics of Hawthorn are so different from that of the Birch. Where Birch is ever youthful, Hawthorn seems to have been born old and wise. Perhaps that’s why so many legends remain: Ne’er cast a clout till May be out … Hang May flowers in your barn to increase milk yield from your cows ... Carry one of its thorns in your pocket and you will catch more fish ... Don't use it to decorate your house, or death awaits ... Maybe it's this last prophecy that means we've never traditionally exploited Hawthorn in a culinary sense, despite the fact that it has a delightful nutty flavour. The berries, or Haws as they are called, have been used in jellies, but that's as far as it goes.

Time to change all that: at the recent Inishfood Donegal chefs' dinner Derek Creagh used a hawthorn essence and hawthorn flowers with a meaty terrine. Here is a way of capturing this vanilla almond flavour, but in a dessert.

You can eat this recipe at any stage - use the nutty milk on cereal, or drink it cold. Eat the yoghurt, have the yoghurt cheese with fruit, or go the full way and proceed to the cheesecake.

Hawthorn Yoghurt Cheesecake

Hawthorn Milk:

Macerate 2L of milk with some hawthorn blossoms over night. The next morning strain through muslin.


Hawthorn Yoghurt:

Place sieved the milk in a saucepan and heat until almost boiling. Add 2 tablespoons Marvel milk powder and stir well. Turn off the heat and let the milk cool, until it reaches about 45º, or until you can hold your hand in it for ten seconds without feeling uncomfortable. Keep stirring while you do this so the milk doesn’t form a skin. Finally, beat in a few drops of vanilla essence and 2 tablespoons fresh plain, unsweetened yoghurt. Wrap the bowl in a towel and keep overnight in a warm place.

Yoghurt Cheese:

Pour the yoghurt into a colander that has been double lined with muslin. Tie the edges of the muslin to make a bag and hang this bag over a bowl for about 4 hours. Use the whey that comes out to make bread.

Yoghurt Cheesecake:

Heat the oven to 140º C

150g digestive biscuits
100g butter
20g flaked almonds
2 eggs
2 tablespoons Amaretto
2 tablespoons honey
600g yoghurt cheese

Crush the biscuits and almonds with the softened butter and spread onto the base of an oiled, springform baking tin. Bake for 10 minutes in the oven to crisp.

Whisk the yoghurt with the Amaretto and honey. Then beat in the eggs. Pour the yoghurt mixture over the biscuit mix. Cover with foil and cook for 1 hour in the oven.

Cool, covered in the fridge, and then decorate with May flowers and almonds.

Quick Recipe:

Drain some bought yoghurt in muslin for 4 hours to make yoghurt cheese. Stir in amaretto, vanilla and honey to taste. Crush digestive biscuits with some softened butter. Press the biscuits into the bottom of a glass and layer with the yoghurt cheese and some good quality fruity jam – here we have used wild blueberry jam from the Clare Jam Co, which you can buy in Avoca. Decorate with hawthorn blossoms and flaked almonds.