Rosehips are one of my favourite autumnal fruits, they add colour to the hedgerows and provide us with the key ingredient to make rosehip syrup. Each year we make a large batch of rosehip syrup, not only does it taste excellent, it is also genuinely good for the immune system. The rosehips which you use can be from any rose but the wild dog rose has the best flavour in my opinion.
The uses for rosehip syrup are many; it can be taken neat, used as a cordial or mixer, drizzled over ice cream or pancakes, or stirred into rice pudding.
Ingredients
- Ripe rosehips – Picked when fully red and slightly soft and used here either fresh or frozen
- Enough water to just cover the cleaned rosehips in a saucepan
- Sugar – granulated white sugar works best for this recipe
You will also need:
Be sure to have some sterilised bottles at the ready for the end of this recipe, you can sterilise jars and bottles with a sterilising solution or by heating in the oven (just remove any rubber seals before hand)
Method
- Rinse the rosehips of any dust, dirt, and insects then chop roughly before adding to a saucepan and covering with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until the fruit is soft.
Once the rosehips have softened, pour the mixture into a jelly bag or sieve lined with a muslin cloth or cheesecloth and leave to strain for several hours until it has stopped dripping.
Return the fruit pulp to a saucepan and add more water, heat gently once again and strain as above. Finally strain the resulting juice one last time through a tightly woven cloth or coffee filter into a measuring jug.
Pour the rosehip juice into a clean saucepan and for every 500ml, add 325g sugar to the saucepan. Heat the mixture gently over a low heat, stirring continuously until the sugar has dissolved. Decant into sterilised bottles or jars and seal.
The sugar in this preserve will keep it for years in sealed jars, once opened it is best to keep it in the fridge.
If you would like to learn about other autumnal fruits, how to find them and what to do with them, we have foraging courses in North Wales every year in the autumn.
Every year Wild Food People run a calendar of foraging and wild food courses in North Wales.
From forests and meadows to seashore and coastal – all of our courses are focused on food, ecology and giving participants the confidence to go and find these foods for themselves.
We work with nature.
We deliver expert foraging and wild food training as part of our wider work managing habitats in North Wales.
Every single one of our courses and events feeds back into improving those habitats, helping to provide healthy ecosystems for our local wildlife and communities.