Join us for a delightful evening to learn about the magical hawthorn tree, including:
Identifying & harvesting hawthorn and learning about it’s folklore
Making a hawthorn tincture to take home
A group cooking class using hawthorn blossom - some hands on cooking activities and some demonstrations
A two-course meal featuring what you have cooked, plus some delicious extras
The month of May is upon us and the hedgerows are cascading with the starry blossoms of the powerful hawthorn tree. Join me & Emma Lowe to learn all about this magical, edible plant with it’s distinctive, almondy scent and it rich history and folklore
Mother of the Wood Retreat (where this class will be held) is surrounded by hedgerows heaving with hawthorn blossom. We’ll start outside to harvest some blossoms - learning how to identify the flower, what parts of the plant are edible and how to harvest - making sure to ask permission from the faeries first!
We’ll try hawthorn blossom tea and learn about the folklore and herblore of the plant and Emma will show eveyone how to make a hawthorn tincture - which you will get to take home with you. Then onto the cooking - together we’ll make a hawthorn blossom syrup which we’ll serve as a delicious lemonade with dinner. Then we’ll make a hawthorn blossom bread and butter pudding (using the flowers to scent the custard). And finally we’ll make a gorgeous tomato & strawberry salad using fresh hawthorn blossom to add a nutty flavour and as a dreamy garnish. After the cooking we’ll all sit down together for a two-course dinner featuring everything we’ve made, plus some additional dishes I’ll have prepped earlier
Recipes for everything we cook will be provided. Suitable for vegetarians but this class cannot be adapted for those following a gluten free or vegan diet. For other dietary requirements let us know when booking and we’ll do our best to accommodate if possible.
Ages 16+, under 18’s must be accompanied by an adult.
Cost: £55
Emma Rose Lowe is a Celtic wisdom teacher, folk herbalist and storyteller who shares folk stories, mythology, rituals and traditions of the old ways to serve as medicine for our times and to reconnect us to land and lineage. She runs ‘Belonging’ a year long Celtic Wheel of the Year program. Emma will be sharing the myth, medicine and magic of Hawthorn.
Ern Bunting is a professional chef, recipe developer, food stylist and edible flower enthusiast. She curates monthly supper clubs inspired by nature, the landscape and her Celtic heritage and runs nourishing cooking classes and workshops to connect people to seasonal food and to each other. She regularly appears as a guest chef on Ireland AM and is the co-author of The Edible Flower, a modern guide to growing, cooking and eating edible flowers (as featured in Vogue, Country Living, The Irish News, The Irish Times and the Washington Post to name a few).
Photos: Sharon Cosgrove Photography