A Slightly Sooty Salad: Foraging is even better with friends

When Lorenzo Tijerina, the creator and driving force behind this newspaper, first mentioned his idea of a Sunset Post, it stirred some real excitement in me. It is (usually) a joy to be part of this city, contributing a piece of myself and having the privilege to appreciate the pieces of so many others from so many different places in this city, country, and world. And that is part of what I think the Sunset Post can do: shine a light on or celebrate some of the pieces of our neighborhood that we otherwise might not come across or have access to — and make an already great neighborhood even better.

That desire to learn from our neighbors is partly what started me down the foraging path here in Sunset Park. On a warm fall day in the park a few years ago, having brought our small children out to roll around in the grass and scratch their backs on the trees, I first took a close look at a hawthorn berry. What brought my attention to those tart, crimson globes were the two East Asian women on step stools picking the berries. Prior to that, I think those pretty, round, red things had occupied the same space in my mind where attractive fall-colored leaves are found. But now, thanks to our neighbors — who told me that they cook the berries — I was very curious to figure out what they were and how I might cook the berries.

A quick internet search reveals recipes for hawthorn jelly, cranberry–hawthorn sauce, and a hawthorn berry tart, among other ideas. Hawthorn jelly is popular in our house, so that was our plan this fall.

Hawthorn berries are an ideal foraging project for kids. Ripe berries can be plucked directly from the low-hanging branches of this normally stout and very climbable tree. Any foraging project is even better as a social activity, and together with a schoolmate, our two kids were able to fill two large bags with prime berries in little more than a half hour of climbing and chatting.

Given our occasional foraging forays in Sunset Park and elsewhere in the city, we take advantage of the Urban Soils Institute’s (USI) free soil testing on Governors Island to check for soil contaminants. We brought samples from underneath two of Sunset Park’s hawthorn trees to be tested. The results were surprisingly good. Both locations tested well below the recommended safe limits for gardening soil for lead, copper, and zinc. The test results for arsenic were right around the various governmental limits at 18 ppm. The staff at USI explained (and studies have shown) that a variety of factors can reduce the amount of heavy metals that actually make their way into plant tissues or our tissues. The activity of microbes in soil can make contaminants less bioavailable for both the plant and for human bodies. And when arsenic or other metals do find their way into the plant’s flesh, fruits are typically the least affected part of the plant. See, for example, “Dangerous Heavy Metals in Soil and Small Forest Fruit as a Result of Old Environmental Loads,” by Vollmannova, A. et al., Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, September 2015.

Further, soil-contamination guidelines are created to find safe levels of exposure with consistent, long-term use — not impossible but difficult to achieve with jelly consumption.

Hawthorn berries are edible and not necessarily delicious raw, but it is worth having a nibble to get an idea of their flavor — something akin to cranberries. The jelly-making process is a simple one. First, soak your slightly sooty berries for fifteen minutes in water and baking soda to help clean them. Agitate, rub, and rinse them well.

Place your berries in a pot on the stove and add enough water to just cover them. Simmer the berries for 30 to 40 minutes, mashing them as they become soft. Turn off the heat and strain your hawthorn juice through a jelly bag, cheesecloth, or other straining device. Measure how much juice you have. The typical hawthorn jelly recipe calls for equal parts hawthorn juice and sugar, but you can reduce that if you want a more tart flavor. We also added a splash of lemon juice. Cook the juice, sugar, and lemon juice until you reach your desired level of gooeyness (this takes some experimentation). Typically, you’re looking for the simmering jelly to coat the back of a spoon and hang there a bit, rather than quickly running off. Keep in mind that the jelly will firm up quite a bit once it is refrigerated.

If you have any creative ways that you use hawthorn, please feel free to write and share your recipes at slightlysooty@gmail.com