Ingredient Name: Chinese Hawthorn Fruit (Dried) also known as Crataegus
Traditional Chinese Name: 山楂 (shānzhā)
My mom is a big fan of drinking this as a sweet soup. The Chinese also drink this by the bucket load while doing hot pot as it relieves heatiness and helps with digestion. My children love to eat the hawthorn flakes and I remember I loved to eat them too when I was little. Although, I do question anything produced in China, remind me to check where those hawthorn flakes are produced.
What is this?
- The hawthorn fruit are small, bright red fruits that are grow on the hawthorn tree
- The hawthorn shrubs or trees stand no taller than 15 m in height and produce a white flower along side the fruit
- The fruit is often used by the Chinese to produce snack, jams, jellies, beverages and alcoholic beverages
- Dried hawthorn fruits store very well in dry conditions and can keep up to 6 months in a sealed container
How do I prepare it?
- Soak the hawthorn fruit in warm water and wash before usage
Where can I buy this?
- In Asian supermarkets, you can purchase them prepackaged
- You can also purchase them from Chinese speciality stores (pharmacies) in bulk by weight
- There are a variety of hawthorn products available in Asian supermarkets as well (such as drinks and hawthorn flakes)
What is the cost?
- Dried hawthorn costs around $2.00 – $3.00 CAD / pound
Any benefits?
- The fruit is extremely high in Vitamin C content
- Hawthorn fruit is used in traditional Chinese medicine to assist with digestion
- When boiled into a sweet soup, it is known to relieve heatiness
Any precautions?
- Extreme consumption can lead to cardiac arrhythmia and low blood pressure
- It is also known to cause nausea and is sometimes used as a sedative
Resources
In New Mexico, I cannot find hawthorne fruit (dried). Do you have an online source that you can recommend that I could order from?
Thank you.
After some research, I would recommend purchasing from US sites. A few reasons are that the transactions are usually secured by trusted systems, shipping is cheaper (esp with the US), and most sellers are trusted sources as compared to international sellers.
A few good sites I found:
They sell hawthorn as dried berries, leaves and powdered
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/search/search.php?refine=y&keywords=hawthorn
Another source:
http://www.kalyx.com/store/proddetail.cfm/ItemID/797566.0/CategoryID/12500.0/SubCatID/15.0/file.htm
We do not endorse any of the above links – but merely provide it as a reference. I will try to find you more links and sources.