Shan Zha Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Shan Zha (Crataegus pinnatifida) is the Chinese hawthorn, a small deciduous tree of the rose family, Rosaceae, native to northern China, Korea and eastern Siberia and cultivated in Shandong and Hebei for its fruit. It grows 5 to 7 meters with few thorns, glossy, deeply lobed and toothed leaves, and clusters of white five-petaled flowers in spring. The fruit is a bright red pome 1.5 to 2.5 cm across, larger than that of Western hawthorns, dotted with pale specks and tart and mealy in taste; it is candied on sticks as a street snack. We extract the dried fruit.