Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

AKA: Bread and Cheese, Maythorn, Quickthorn

Where: Hedgerows, especially along woodland. Common throughout UK, except far north. 

What: Berries, flowers, leaves.

When: Leaves: April – July; Flowers: April – June; Berries: July – November, possibly later.

Hawthorns are very commonly encountered as they make up a large proportion of the hedgerows once you get away from the privet wastelands of suburbia. They are easy to spot, either as a hedge or as a freestanding, usually ancient looking, individual tree.

The tree can reach a height of 10m or more, but is more commonly found at 4m or thereabouts in the hedgerow, depending on the maintenance. It has a woody stem, gnarled and twisted, greyish brown in colour with broken skin.

The leaves are fairly thick and tough, appearing in early spring. A glossy dark green in colour (young leaves are a lighter green), deeply lobed into 5 segments some 2-3cm across, and looking a little like a maple leaf. The young leaves are very edible and taste like, well, leaves – slightly bitter, but also slightly sweet – several sources recommend putting them on a sandwich, but they are good on their own or in a salad. Older leaves become a bit chewy and straggly and are perhaps best avoided.

The blossom arrives in late spring (April/early May) and continues until June. Measuring c2-3cm across, it consists of 5 white petals with a pinkish tinge, with a central part of white stamens with a pink end. It is very characteristic and very pretty and is produced in massive amounts, and is also edible! Actually, it’s a very powerful sweet taste, sometimes sickly sweet, and is not to everyone’s liking, but it makes a good syrup, and an interesting addition to spring salads. The unopened flower buds are also edible – get them in spring and eat raw, or in salads (the Hawthorn is often referred to as ‘bread and cheese’ – the bread is the leaves, the cheese is the unopened flower buds)

The most characteristic aspect of the Hawthorn are the haws, the bright red berries that arrive in summer time (July), and can persist until December. The tree is a member of the apple family, and the haws look like shiny red apples in miniature, measuring just 1cm across, and having a single large seed inside, with surprisingly little flesh covering it. Be advised, the Hawthorn is covered in sharp hard spines – the clue is in the name – so be careful when collecting. They can be eaten raw (they are sort of fruity, but plain) but are much better made into a jam or preserve, or better mixed with other fruit and made into a leather. They also make a really good country wine.

Lookalikes: None really, it is fairly easy to spot and there is nothing to confuse it with. 

Hazel (Corylus avellana)

AKA: Cobnuts, Kentish Cobs

Where: Woodland, Hedgerows. Common throughout UK

What: Nuts only

When: August – October

The wonderfully versatile Hazel Nut is a major win for foragers – tasty and useful, and they keep well.

Hazel is a commonly occurring shrub-like small tree, often reaching a height of about 8m but seldom more, and which can be found just about anywhere in the United Kingdom. It has a shiny greyish-brown bark, with horizontal pores and vertical cracks in the older examples. The leaves appear in early spring - hairy buds at first, then small leaves, growing until they reach their mature size in high summer. These measure c.10 x 8cm, and are a rounded or oval shape, broad and coming to a point, hairy and clearly marked with deep straight veins coming from a central rib.

The classic aspect of the tree is the catkin, the cylindrical male flower hanging down in groups. Yellow in colour and made up of tiny sepals, they measure up to 10cm long, and appear in early spring, before the leaves arrive, along with the tiny (0.3cm) red female flowers hidden in buds.

The nut arrives in August, emerging in groups of up to 5, each enclosed in a leafy green ‘cup’, often with reddish highlights. They are rounded or oval in shape with a round rough spot at one end, measure up to 2cm, and are very hard and shiny with striations running down the length of the body – actually very pretty to look at. The immature specimen is a pale green colour, shiny and hard, but these mature into the classic brown nut.

The immature pale nuts are also edible, being vaguely fruity in taste and milky in texture – the advantage here is that animals don’t seem to like them, so they are all yours for the taking. Eat them at once as they don’t keep well in nut form, or process them further, possibly into a pesto, to enable them to last. However, by late September the nuts will be turning that classic Hazel colour – a beautiful deep brown, with a taste to match. Collect them as soon as they are ripe or you will be fighting the whole animal world for them, particularly the squirrels which prize them highly. Sometimes the nuts that the tree produces will be empty, so it is worth opening a few as you go along as a representative sample – if they are empty, move on to the next tree.

They are a very versatile food, very tasty and as they are up to 60% oil, they are a prized foodstuff for animal and forager. If they are left in their shells and stored in a dark dry place, they will keep for up to a year, so used sparingly (or taken in a huge harvest) they will last until next season.

                                                                                       

Hazel Tree 

Hazel Leaf - Close-up

Hazelnuts - Immature

Mature Hazelnuts - This is what you are aiming for!