I was picking rose-hips in the car-park of the church next door, and there were some blackberries too, and of course, what should I do but sing The Bramble and the Rose, a song I really loved for so many years…
I am hoping to make something very easy and full of Vitamin C– a rosehip syrup, the easy way. Chris of Ipso-Phyto told me this — simply layer the ripe rosehips in sugar, and wait several months (score them if they are not ripe) — the sugar draws out the goodness. Then you don’t have to mess with the boiling and the hairs — this is my first time doing anything with rose hips. Hooray for knowing nothing because then there is so much to learn!
(just had a teeny peek and realize that lots of people recommend waiting until after the first frost to harvest rose hips– I guess the frost breaks down the hard shellish-membrane? I will think of this as a Raw-rose syrup… 🙂 Anyway, always good to learn by experiment and even error…
I often have mixed feelings about using (especially white, heavily processed) sugar (stay tuned for a post on jam-making) but alas, it has fantastic uses for preserving, in moderation. I just couldn’t get the motivation to do anything time-consuming with the rosehips so am trying this… Writing here, I’m wondering if there are great old WW2 type instructionals to pursue…
Check out Chris’s website.
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Postscript the following April — here’s a piece I wrote that describes how I used this syrup and a verdict on the easy method– good, but next time will try the post-frost boiling method….
Kitchen Counter Culture 
I know nothing about rose-hips, this is SO interesting. Thank you for your knowledge & your willingness to try new things so I can learn from you!
There are a number of wartime recipes/medications/make-up items on my blog at Granny Robertson, there are still more to be posted, that may interest you.
Kevin
[…] blog Kitchen Counter Clutter for all my experiments that take up space there– sat a jar of Rosehip Syrup, the hips suspended since September in a sugar syrup. It needed using up. The syrup had never […]
Ever try making a rosehip oxymel? its simple. bring some honey up to temperature (so that it is liquidy and warm) then add rosehips and let sit for a few weeks in dark place. Then dilute with vinegar (apple cider or other fruit vinegars are nice). The flavour is amazing, Sometimes we make an infused rosehip vinegar in early spring (if the birds havent eaten them in the winter) without honey. We use it in everything.
That sounds amazing! Thank you! I will definitely try this.