Hawthorn uses; (Crataegus monogyna)

Hawthorn flowers, leaves and berries offer so many gifts, especially for nourishing your ❤️heart❤️ and support your cardiovascular system.

🌍What a beautiful world we live in to have such abundant heart medicine growing just outside people's front doors.

🌸It's such a beautiful scenery in the spring, its branches are filled with white to pink blossoms that attract countless pollinators. It has a very pleasant spring-like smell, often described as vanilla and almond with a splash of spice.

🍒While we can classify Hawthorn with a handful of medicinal words like astringent, antispasmodic, cardiotonic, diuretic and hypotensive, a better understanding is simply

that Hawthorn nourishes and protects the heart. As a result, hawthorn's virtues benefit a wide variety of heart-related problems. Oftentimes in western herbalism, we focus on 🍃the berries, which are ripe in the fall. However the leaves and flowers are also filled with medicinal benefits.

Large long-term and short-term studies have shown that Hawthorn offers many benefits for people who already have mild to moderate heart disease. Hawthorn is rich in flavonoids that are known to protect the cardiovascular system. Much of the heart disease in western world is related to chronic inflammation. Regularly enjoying herbs and foods and flowers high in these flavonoids can protect the heart from chronic inflammation and oxidative stress.

🌳There are over 280 species of hawthorn trees growing around the world.

The most commonly used species are Crataegus Monogyna, Crataegus Oxyacantha and Crataegus Laevigata.

⛏️Hawthorns are native to Europe, Asia, North America and parts of Africa. They are widely distributed across the Earth. Hawthorn can grow as a shrub or as a tree reaching 15 to 45 feet tall. The bark and branches are brown and the wood is very hard.

Hawthorn is prized for making a variety of tools. The tree has many thorns which are about a half inch to one inch long and are found along the branches.

🐦Once Hawthorn blooms, it's going to develop fruits and keep on giving. In late summer to fall, the berries, or haws, ripen to a deep red. The fruits persist well into the winter and are important forage for wildlife. Hawthorn leaves, flowers and berries can be used as medicine. All three are commonly used as medicine for the heart, they can be prepared separately or in combination with each other.

👶Last year I was making some Hawthorn Berry Fruit Leather and planted a seed from leftovers. I have my own Hawthorn baby growing in the garden. It will take some time to see berries, but it's worth the wait. I'll try a fresh young leaves and add them to the salad next spring. Yay!

If you enjoy making your own food, have a go with Hawthorn leather. It's a bit messy business, however I really enjoy creative mess. I hope you do too! It stores well, I have this bit from last year and it tastes really good.

You can make this into beautiful shapes and perhaps create some lovely gifts. My mantra was "Done Beats Perfect". 😂 I cut it into small pieces and stored in Kilner jar. Hey presto!

Feel free to check this wonderful video about making Hawthorn fruit leather. Use your kids or grandchildren to help you with picking!

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🍀This year, I'll be making Hawthorn Pate. I haven't tried this recipe before. Wish me luck!

I'll pick some Hawthorns and simmer them for a couple of minutes. Then I process them in vegetable miller to get rid of stones and make purée. I mix this purée with sunflower seeds, salt and oregano (you can also add garlic cloves, I'll skip the garlic in my case) and put it in a blender.

👨‍🍳You can play with this recipe, add something else in case you don't like sunflower seeds, oregano etc. You can make this uniquely yours.

🚴‍♂️I just had a memory flashback. A couple of years ago when we were picking Hawthorns in the park, cyclist stopped by and shouted at us if we were sure those berries were edible. Bless him! He was really generally concerned about us. I could hardly pronounce the word "Hawthorn", but I did my best to explain we're just fine.

🍂Enjoy this lovely autumn time and get yourself some haws!

From my heart ❤️ to your heart ❤️.