Filterning the berries: these Hawthron berries have released all their gooddness into the wine.

Have you made your Hawthorn Wine yet? Check out the previous post how to do it.  I am already making my second batch, but it is getting more difficult to harvest enough from the shrubs in my garden as the birds had a field day! Check out the photo on the left  how the berries look like when the are properly infused with the wine and ready to be filtered.

I have started drinking my daily glass of Hawthorn wine. Hawthorn is one of the most important heart remedies in the Western Materia Medica and used since antiquity. There are numerous scientific studies backing up its effectiveness. Hawthorn is used both in herbal medicine and conventional medicine to prop up the heart muscle in an aging heart (heart failure/cardiac insufficiency) or to increase  oxygen output and coronary blood flow in sporting, in angina pectoris, high blood pressure, arrhythmias and as a circulatory support in arteriosclerosis, Buergers’s disease, cold hands and feet and as a general antioxidant laden tonic.

If you are unable to make your own wine then you can drink your daily heart health tea with hawthorn in it as in my  Cardio Care Tea.

I look forward translating the Hawthorn chapter in Tabernaemontanus, but presently I am battling through 10 huge original pages of Chamomile which have yielded so far 64 translated German pages….

Hurry and gather your Hawthorn berries before the birds eat them all!

Ripe Hawthorn berries ready to be harvested for making delicious hawthorn wine

Autumn is here and with it an abundance of wonderful fruits and herbs that will keep us well over winter time. I always love making Hawthorn wine at this time of the year. A small schnapps glass a day of this delicious remedy over the colder months is good for the circulation to keep warm hands and feet. It is also strengthening and invigorating the stressed heart and the ageing heart. The berries are full of antioxidants and therefore protect the body from degenerative damage.

The hawthorn wine is very easy to make. Buy some good but not expensive red wine, one that you like. Don’t go for the really cheap ones as you want to enjoy the wine. Add fresh hawthorn berries and add to wine. Make sure that they are covered with wine. They may float a bit first, so shake every day. When the berries turn white and float to the bottom of the glass the wine is ready.  Have fun!

Making Hawthorn wine - fill glass with berries (no leaves!)

Add wine of your liking, covering all the berries. When the turn white and sink to the bottom filter and enjoy!