Hawthorn
Crataegus · also: thornapple, aubépine
ripe nowFruit & berries🗓 Ripe mid-Sep–Oct📍 22 on map (0 confirmed)
How to ID it
- Small red (sometimes orange or black) pomes — 'haws' — like tiny apples
- Long sharp thorns on twigs and branches
- Lobed or toothed leaves; white five-petalled apple-family blossom in spring
- Many species; all true haws are treated the same in the kitchen
Safety
- No dangerous lookalikes, but the seeds are cyanogenic — use the flesh only, and don't crush or eat the pips. Mind the sharp thorns while picking.
- Hawthorn has a long folk-medicine reputation for the heart, but that's not medical advice — no therapeutic claims here.
Harvest
Haws ripen from mid-September through October — small red pomes, like miniature apples, clustered on thorny branches. There are many Crataegus species around Montréal and they’re notoriously hard to tell apart, but for foraging purposes all true haws are handled alike. Watch the long thorns while you pick; gloves help.
Prep
The flesh is mealy and mild, better cooked than eaten out of hand. Simmer the haws, then push the pulp through a sieve to leave the seeds behind, and turn it into haw jelly or a tangy haw “ketchup” for meats. The pectin-poor pulp usually wants added apple or a little pectin to set.
Notes
The seeds are cyanogenic — sieve them out and never crush them; use flesh only. Hawthorn has a long folk reputation as a heart tonic, but treat that as lore, not medical advice.
Guides & links
Updated 2026-08-09