Rosehip Syrup

Rosehips are hiding in our hedgerows now, a reminder it’s the season to gather in preparation for the winter months.

Pick them, wash them, simmer in a pan, blitz, strain, strain again (they have little spikey hairs so you need to double strain to remove) and then cook down with sugar to a syrup.

INGREDIENTS:

1kg rosehips

Approx 500g sugar (white granulated or caster works well)

You’ll need a cheesecloth / muslin for straining and bottles to store the syrup once made

METHOD:

Rosehip syrup is a great thing to make in early autumn ready for winter. Weight for weight rosehips have 20x more vitamin C than oranges. During World War 2 when fresh produce was scarce the Ministry of Food recommended children had a daily dose of syrup and a national week for the collection of rosehips was set up.

This method is based on a River Cottage recipe i first used a few years ago. It seems the least fiddly as you just use a food processor to chop the rosehips and you don’t worry about picking out seeds like some other methods.

Important to start by sterilising a couple of bottles you’ll store your syrup in.

Wash the rosehips and remove and leaves or twigs. Use a food processor to roughly chop the rosehips, depending on the size of your machine you might need to do this in batches.

Tip into a large pan with 1.5L water. Bring to the boil, then turn down to simmer and leave for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Strain through a muslin cloth, place this in a colander or sieve over a bowl and leave for an hour or so for all the juice to pass through into the bowl.

Repeat this step and pass the liquid through a cloth again (wash the cloth or use another). This second strain should ensure that any of the tiny hairs on the rosehips have definitely been removed

Measure the rosehip juice into a saucepan and add 400g sugar for every 500ml

Simmer until the sugar has dissolved and then bring to the boil for 5 minutes, remove any scum from the surface and decant into sterilised bottles.

Use the syrup to flavour sorbets and ice cream, and to macerate fruit. Pairs really really well with apple, try both on your pancakes.

Use the syrup to make cocktails

Other ideas for rosehips..

Make rosehip oxymel by mixing the hips with honey and apple cider vinegar and leaving at room temp for 2-3 weeks before straining.

Rosehip Syrup

Rosehips are hiding in our hedgerows now, a reminder it’s the season to gather in preparation for the winter months.Pick them, wash them, simmer in a pan, blitz, strain, strain again (they have little spikey hairs so you need to double strain to remove) and then cook down with sugar to a syrup.

Rosehips are hiding in our hedgerows now, a reminder it’s the season to gather in preparation for the winter months.

Pick them, wash them, simmer in a pan, blitz, strain, strain again (they have little spikey hairs so you need to double strain to remove) and then cook down with sugar to a syrup.