‘Hedgerow Syrup’ battles The Cold!

So why is ‘mum’ always the last woman standing? At last I admit defeat, finally felled  by the lurgy that has worked its wicked way through the family over the last 3 torrid weeks. In a grumpy, yet messy domestic drama ‘The Cold’!
First there was ‘Snotty Daddy’, stoic and insistent he was ‘fine’, until he crumbled and admitted he was feeling ‘rough’ managing to force himself to swallow a whole Paracetamol, something our hero only ever does when driven to desperate measures. He eventually won the battle after days of struggling through, and celebrated with a shave. Next came the teenage angst admirably delivered by Heroic H, who womanfully battled Biology and Physics tests, as well as choosing her Highers, making life changing decisions whilst wading through a loo roll mountain.
Kept sane by lots of TLC, no nagging, ‘because she was poorly’ and her best pal, ‘The Headphones’ and regularly dosed with mummy’s proven cold killer the ‘Hedgerow Syrup’.  A cheeky little oxymel concoction, developed using grandmothers WWII recipe for storing hedgerow goodness, during the austerity years and capturing all the vitamins in a tasty if a little odd, tea like drink. This ‘love it or hate it’ potion, has kept both my daughter’s fighting fight and is a sure-fire way to bring pep and comfort when feeling blue. So H imbibed and managed to expel her bugs with aplomb. 
Then disaster struck,  sunny, runny nosed glorious Little G, was at last captured by the germs, no matter how hard she tried to dance out of their way and insist all was well, the inevitable occurred. Late hot nights, chesty coughs and sleeplessness, did not deter her from cross-country racing, piles of home-work and re-plotting her bedroom! Lots of mummy’s ‘Hedgerow Syrup’, cuddles and a movie outing restored her to normality. A few days tickled by, all was well on the Dixon-Spain front. We ladies were packed and heading home for half term, with plans of jaunts out, maybe a night or two away and even a plan to get Daddy to join us for an outing, it all started off so beautifully, lovely friends Zoe and Martin and Mac their ‘very blond’ Retriever came to stay, great food (thank you Zoe) and even better company and our holiday began. Then WHAM, yesterday I finally, succumbed, felled by the dread cold, which had been clearly lurking hidden, in some dark place, plotting for a week and waiting to pounce. Well that’s me folks, feeling well sorry for myself, and boy can I just say it’s horrid! At least today I am vertical and can cope with the glare of a computer screen an opportunity to get working on this blog.  Hedgerow drink in hand, I can at last feel air through the snot and I am just about able to breathe with my lips closed.  Tomorrow, I know I will feel much better. For those of you that like a good forage, here is the recipe. 

(Mummy’s) Hedgerow Syrup

  • Ingredients
    500g (big bowl) of red fruit: Black currants/brambles/wild raspberry’s/strawberry etc: You dont need forage, you can simply buy what you like or forage in season and store:
  • 150 fluid oz Cider Vinegar
  • 500g sugar or 200g stevia (if low sugar option is preferred)
  • 1- 2 jars of Honey depending on thickness and taste
  • Water

Method
1. Place fruit in a bowl or Tupperware tub and cover with Cider Vinegar, cover and leave to steep for 2 days. This process allows the vinegar to absorb all the nutrients and goodness from the fruit. This process is called ‘Oxymel’
2. Add the whole mix to a thick bottomed pan, add the sugar, the honey and 2 x the container you used for the fruit, full of water. Gently simmer until all the sugar and honey is dissolved.
3. Continue to simmer gently for about 15 minutes, adding honey and or water to get a consistency you like. Try not to let the mixture boil.
4. When happy with consistency remove from the heat and set aside to cool
5. Prepare your glass storage bottles. I find empty whisky bottles ideal and I save any good glass containers.  For Syrup you want to store longer, use tinted glass bottles as tinted glass helps protect from light. Or store in a cool dark place.
6. Strain your Syrup mixture into the bottles, removing the bits of fruit*. Use a .small sieve or ideally muslin cloth, depending on how clear you like your mixture. Store in a cool dark place. Bottles can last for up to a year.

*Top tip, your fruit remains can be frozen and go an absolute treat when added to a fruit crumble or pie, adding zest.

 To Serve Your syrup is best diluted, add a few inches to a mug and poor on hot water. You can also serve cold with ice and spring/fizzy water.

Notes: This is an old-fashioned recipe, designed to get the goodness from fruit in season and preserve into the winter months. The Cider Vinegar is both a preservative, capturing the goodness of the fruit and retaining those qualities during the heat process. Vinegar has many medicinal properties, working directly on the ears, nose and throat. As an actor, I have many times recourse to cider vinegar to cure hoarseness or to give me a welcome pep, if feeling run down. Honey has antibacterial properties and again acts as a preserving agent.
Red berries are all good for your heart and packed with antioxidants like lycopene and anthocyanins.
 My recipe is adapted to our taste, experiment to get it right for you. You should get a smooth sweet sour mix, with the vinegar gently underpinning the syrup. Play about with the ingredients and enjoy. Our girls grew up on this ‘Hedgerow Syrup’ and as wee ones, used to come foraging with mummy around the grounds of the castle, picking what ever fruit we could find and what didn’t get eaten or made into puddings, was made into our comforting winter tonic.  Drink and enjoy. I do hope you like this

2 thoughts on “‘Hedgerow Syrup’ battles The Cold!”

  1. Thank you for sharing your recipe! It sounds yummy and I look forward to giving it a try.

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