Rosehip Syrup

I use foraging to increase my nutrition each year. I am seeing loads of rosehips in the hedges and so I am going to pick some and take them home to makevrosehip syrup. The pictures are of some rosehip I collected last year from my Mum’s garden after her funeral. I froze them as they make a nicer syrup if touched by frost, and so freezing them had the same impact.

Rosehips contain 20 times more vitamin C when compared to oranges. During the world wars, school children were given a week off school and paid to collect them in order to improve the nutrition of the nation when oranges couldn’t be imported.

You can use Rosehip syrup in the same way as you would use maple syrup eg on pancakes, in porridge, over ice cream, in yoghurt, or even in cocktails.

You will find Rosehips in lots of hedge rows. I have put a picture of the dog rose flower as it is common, but there are different varieties and you can use any ripe rosehip.

Recipe

1. Take the Rosehips out of the freezer and run under a warm tap.
2. Chop off the leaves and ends and chop the rosehips up small or give them a whiz in a food processor.
3. Put them into a pan and add 750ml of water.
4. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 mins with a lid on the pan.
5. Using a muslin cloth (or a tea towel) strain the liquid into a jug. Rosehips have little hairs in that are an irritant and so a sieve won’t work. Some people strain it twice to make sure there are no hairs. (We used to put Rosehips down people’s shirts when I was a kid as they act like itching powder 😁.)
6. Measure the liquid and pour it into a clean pan.
7. For every 100ml of liquid add 60g of sugar. (I had 400ml and so added 240g).
8. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for a couple of minutes and then pour into sterilised jars. I got 3 x 12oz jars. It will still be liquid but will thicken a bit as it cools. Some people boil it longer so that it is like treacle but I like it the consistency of maple syrup.

The jars need to be stored in the fridge and will keep up to 3 months, though once open the vitamin content will decrease.