Rosehip Syrup - Recipe 1

Rosehips produce their wonderful berries much later than many other plants.

I picked these on the last day of October.

Don't pick all of them on the bush as birds rely on them for food during the winter.
















Wash about a kilo of berries and break off the stalks.

Rosehips put through a juicer!

I use a juicer (thanks VK) and it chops up the rosehips beautifully.
It would make more sense to buy a large and powerful hand blender

The chopped rosehips should be put into 1.75 litres of boiling water, 

Do this as quickly as possible as the vitamin C begins to break down as soon as the rosehips are damaged

Boiling syrup

Once the chopped rosehips are boiling, turn off the gas and allow to stand for 15 minutes.

Then pour the mixture through a jelly bag - or, if you don't have one, you can use a pair of (clean) tights, or, as I did, use a clean tea towel.

Put the chopped rosehips back in the pan, add another litre of water and repeat the straining process.

You could probably do this three times and still get goodness out of the rosehips.

The syrup that comes out looks remarkably like tomato soup.

Add about 750g of sugar and bring to the boil again.

No need to boil away for hours.

Once the syrup is boiling, you can start bottling it.

Rosehip syrup - does look like tomato soup

Bottle the rosehip syrup in sterilized bottles.

Best to use small ones as the syrup will go off if the bottle is open for too long.

Store in a cool, dark place and refrigerated after opening.

It is a delicious drink either hot or cold - dilute to taste.

You can also use it as a sweetener on your muesli or in your home-made ice cream.