Anhua Hawthorn

Anhua Hawthorn

　　Hawthorn, commonly known as yellow fruit, red fruit, or mountain hawthorn, is a type of shrub or semi-arboreal plant. It has long been a specialty of Anhua County, with a total cultivation area of 3,000 mu and an annual yield of 50,000 kilograms. The hawthorn tree has an open canopy and upright branches, and is highly resistant to adverse conditions. The fruit is harvested in mid-September. The fruits are flat-round in shape, weighing about 10 grams each. They have a shallow stem cavity, a slightly indented top, persistent calyxes, a yellow base, a reddish tint on the sun-exposed side, a smooth surface, and a sweet-and-sour taste. Both their nutritional and medicinal values are high. Historical records indicate that hawthorn has been cultivated in Anhua County for over two hundred years, with varieties mainly divided into Hubei hawthorn and wild hawthorn. Historically, it was primarily used for medicinal purposes and mostly grows in cold mountainous areas at altitudes of 500 to 1,200 meters. In Anhua County, it is more abundantly produced in high-altitude regions such as Wenxi, Jiangjun, and Dongshi. In recent years, hawthorn has evolved from purely medicinal use to being processed into various products such as hawthorn slices, hawthorn cakes, hawthorn peel, hawthorn preserves, hawthorn juice, and hawthorn canned goods. These products are sold to regions including Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. Its production and development have been included in Hunan Province’s “Spark Development Plan.”