Hedgerow Ketchup. A Delicious and Adaptable Wild Fruit Recipe.

Hedgerow ketchup is a fruity, tangy sauce that combines wild fruits with vinegar and spices to make a delicious preserve that pairs well with meat and cheese.

Like its sweet counterpart, Hedgerow Jelly, hedgerow ketchup avoids the need for fruit preparation as all the stones, seeds and stalks are strained out after the initial cooking.

I use wild apples and hawthorn berries for the body of my hedgerow ketchup and feel they give the sauce its characteristic texture and bulk. Wild apple and hawthorn ketchup is, in itself, a tasty preserve.

However, adding other hedgerow fruits elevates the taste considerably and results in a richer, more appealing colour.

You really can add any combination of hedgerow fruits to this ketchup. I add sloes and rosehips in this version, but elderberries, blackberries, and damsons are all delicious.

What you need to make Hedgerow Ketchup

The quantities below will make approximately 1500mls of Hedgerow Ketchup.

• 400g Apples
• 400g Hawthorn Berries
• 400 g Mixed berries (I used half and half sloe berries and rosehips)
• One large onion, chopped
• Three cloves garlic, chopped
• I inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 level teaspoon allspice powder
• ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 500mls cider vinegar
• 500mls water
• Approximately 200g sugar (to be added after cooking)

6 x 8oz glass sauce bottles sterilised in a warm oven

How to Make Hedgerow Ketchup

Wash the fruit and remove any stalks. Fruit can be used fresh or frozen.

Throw the mix of hedgerow fruits into a large pan, cutting your apples in half. Add all the other ingredients to the fruit, EXCEPT for the sugar.

Note: It is advisably not to use Aluminium pans for preserve making as the metal reacts with the acids in the fruit and vinegar. I use a wide-based enamel pan for preserve making.

Bring the pan contents to a gentle simmer and cook the fruit down to a pulp. Once it starts to soften, you can use a potato masher to encourage the process. My combination of hedgerow fruit took about 40mins to cook down into a pulp.

Once the fruit is cooked, you need to extract the puree from the stalks, seeds and stones either by sieving it or passing it through a food mill.

I use a food mill (Amazon Affiliate link), which works brilliantly for separating the puree from the inedible parts of the fruit.

Alternatively, the traditional method is pushing it through a sieve using the back of a spoon. This method is more time consuming and effort than using a food mill but is equally effective.

Return the puree to the clean pan and place it over low heat. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.

Due to using sloes, a very tart fruit, I used 200 grams of sugar for this batch of hedgerow ketchup. If you choose fruits such as blackberries or garden plums for your version, you may need less. Try adding 100g of sugar to start, and once dissolved, taste the ketchup before adding the rest.

Note. You can use any sugar you like for this recipe. I opted to use white as I wanted to keep the vibrant colour of my sauce.

Once the sugar has dissolved into the sauce, bring a gentle simmer for 5 minutes before bottling in sterilised bottles.

Leave the ketchup to mature for a couple of weeks before use.

Hedgerow ketchup should keep unopened for a year, stored in a cool, dark place. Once opened, the ketchup should be stored in the fridge and used within a month.