Rosehips

[Áine]

The house I am mving to has a huge supply of rosehips... but they are the gigantic kind, I would love to make rosehip suryp. 

Has anyone done this and do you think it would work as well with the gigantic ones ?

[bohemian]

From the sites I have looked at for recipes, it seems that any rosehips will make syrup.  There are some good simple recipes online (Fearnley-Whittingstall and others).

Tempted to try this myself.

[Áine]

I've read that they are very high in vitamin C, but the kind I have are cultivated ones not the kind you find through foraging... but like you say Rosehips are Rosehips

[Áine]

I just found this recipe Chris, it looks to be quite simple I got it from this website http://www.cauldronsandcrockpots.com/2011/01/wild-things-in-february-rose-hips/

 

Here is a recipe for a rosehip simple syrup:

1 cup rose hips (either dry or fresh)

2 cup water

1 cup sugar

Bring the rose hips and water to a boil, and simmer for 20 minutes or so. Remove from the heat, and mash up the rose hips, to get as much of the goodness out into the water as possible. Add the sugar, and bring to the boil again, simmer, and make sure all the sugar is dissolved, then strain through a sieve and bottle.

It should keep in the fridge for up to a year.

 

I've also seen advice to put it into small bottles as once its opened it will only last one week... it can also be frozen as with Elderberry Cordial

 

I can remember being given a spoonful of Rosehip Syrup daily when I was a child, I loved it !!!

Edited August 5, 2013 by anniebea

[Margaret]

And they make great jelly

[rocket]

^{Is it good on pancakes?}  

[Áine]

^{Is it good on pancakes?}

yes and ice cream

[GrumpysWife]

Make sure you check that there are no worms in them. One time we picked a bunch to make Jelly and they were full of those little white worms that like to get in wild things you pick. Yuck........

[Áine]

Make sure you check that there are no worms in them. One time we picked a bunch to make Jelly and they were full of those little white worms that like to get in wild things you pick. Yuck........

Yup I get them in Blackberries as well. .. but a good boil as you make the jam or jelly kills them ! I just don't tell the family... maybe don't come to my house for dinner

[GrumpysWife]

One time Grumpy and his brother picked a bushel of wild mushrooms from an apple orchard. They were beautiful but too many to eat all at once. Next day I started to cook a few to eat with our hamburgers. As they were cooking, I saw these little white things wiggling in the frying pan and then all of a sudden they'd just stiffen up and stop wiggling. They looked a little like rice. Soooooooooooooooo I finished cooking the mushrooms and made some rice to go with the mushrooms. Yummie meal, and nobody knew about the extra protein.    

[Áine]

One time Grumpy and his brother picked a bushel of wild mushrooms from an apple orchard. They were beautiful but too many to eat all at once. Next day I started to cook a few to eat with our hamburgers. As they were cooking, I saw these little white things wiggling in the frying pan and then all of a sudden they'd just stiffen up and stop wiggling. They looked a little like rice. Soooooooooooooooo I finished cooking the mushrooms and made some rice to go with the mushrooms. Yummie meal, and nobody knew about the extra protein.

some things are on a 'need to know' basis LOL

[LeslieDean]

You can bathe with a blend of rosehips, vanilla and something else--I forget---I saw it on "Frazier"--so it must be gospel!

[retroHelen]

What you have to aim at with Rose Hip Syrup is not to destroy all the vitamin C with over-boiling. Vitamin C starts to degrade at temperatures over 40 degrees and from the time the fruit is cut, so shortest boiling time is best.  http://www.cooksinfo.com/rose-hips

Here's the best recipe I found to minimise the vitamin C loss: http://curiouskai.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/rose-hips.html

To get the best amount of vitamin C it is a good idea to get it used up within 6 months as vitamin C is not stable over time as well as temperature either. I have Rosa Ragosa in my garden it's the only legal spikey barrier to kids who enjoy' hedge-diving' and hedge-scaling round here.

 

The Rosa Ragosa hips are as big as plums and very sweet and the plants grow like strawberries for putting out suckers all round the base that I can transfer around my hedge line to grow amongst the beech, hawthorn and privet.I have been known to try to peel off the flesh to eat raw, but it is fiddly if you are trying to avoid the itchy seed hairs getting on your fingers.

[Áine]

Do you think its best to put gloves on to pick them Helen ? Its the large ones I have... lots of them !!