Rosehip Syrup
Rosehips are ready to pick in autumn, around October to early December. If you haven't done any foraging before, this is a great place to start because rosehips are easy to spot and identify. Those from the dog rose are the go-to: they are deemed to be the richest in flavour.
This syrup is rich in vitamin C, so it's practically medicinal! In fact, according to one story from the 1st century, the dog rose got its name when, in a dream, a woman was told to make a decoction of it to cure her son, a soldier, who had been bitten by a rabid dog. There are other origin stories, but I favour that one.
You can make this a few days before you need it. Keep it in the fridge in a sterilised jar, or freeze the juice and make it up into the syrup when you’re ready. Use it in my rosehip drizzle cake, or spooned over ice cream.
The precise quantity of sugar you need will depend on how many rosehips you have foraged: see a note on quantities below.
Rosehips are ready to pick in autumn, around October to early December. If you haven't done any foraging before, this is a great place to start because rosehips are easy to spot and identify. Those from the dog rose are the go-to: they are deemed to be the richest in flavour.
This syrup is rich in vitamin C, so it's practically medicinal! In fact, according to one story from the 1st century, the dog rose got its name when, in a dream, a woman was told to make a decoction of it to cure her son, a soldier, who had been bitten by a rabid dog. There are other origin stories, but I favour that one.
You can make this a few days before you need it. Keep it in the fridge in a sterilised jar, or freeze the juice and make it up into the syrup when you’re ready. Use it in my rosehip drizzle cake, or spooned over ice cream.
The precise quantity of sugar you need will depend on how many rosehips you have foraged: see a note on quantities below.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method 1. Collect the rosehips and wash them thoroughly (aim for at least 150g of hips). Remove the stalks. 2. Roughly chop the rosehips using a very sharp knife. The insides of a roseship can be skin irritants, so use gloves. 3. In a pressure cooker, place the rosehips and about 2 inches of water. Cook on a low heat for about 25 minutes. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, place the hips in a large pan, covered with water and cook on a low heat, stirring and mashing (with a potato masher) occasionally. This will take a bit longer. |
4. Strain the juice overnight through muslin. Stretch a piece of muslin across a large bowl using a large elastic band, ladle the hips on top of the stretched muslin and allow to slowly drip through. Don’t apply any force – this will cloud the juice. Leave it to drip through overnight.
5. If there’s any rosehip hairs in the juice, strain it again through the muslin. 6. Optional: Put the collected juice to one side. Put the rosehips back into a pan with a few inches of water. Cook again to extract more juice, and repeat step 4. 7. Measure your juice and then put it into a large pan. For every 100ml of liquid, add about 60g of sugar. Heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil. As soon as it boils, remove it from the heat. Pour it into sterilised jars. Once cool, keep it in the fridge (it will last for a few days). |