Rose Hip Syrup

After my slight disaster with Hawtorn Ketchup last year, which ultimately became hawthorn syrup (very nice with potato cakes I will have you know!). This year I was determined to make something foraged from the hedgerow, good for us and set a precedent for life on our new mooring.

Rose hips are basically vitamin C bombs, with the addition of many antioxidants and other vitamins. This syrup will be used to sweeten my lemon tea and thus keep me safe from all the different lergy’s that Winter likes to throw at us.

I had heard of rose hip syrup, and had read of a simple store recipe that was minimal, in prep and execution. However Shell had arranged to meet up with some ex-work colleagues on Saturday afternoon, so after some online research I found a different recipe that I followed.

I did everything exactly the same, except one difference. The guys over on ‘Home is Where our Heart is’ YouTube channel froze their ‘hips the evening before. I skipped this part And I’m here to tell you that it still tastes and looks great. If you are at all minutely interested in foraging and making use of natures abundance, I highly recommend following this lovely family, their channel is brimming with recipes and ideas.

The hardest part of this recipe is picking the hips. Roses as we all know are attached to triffid like barbed attack stems, as anyone who grew up playing rhinos with said thorns, knows. 30 minutes and innumerable snags later we finally had our hips haul.

We soaked them overnight in a slightl salted bath, just to cleanse and give any bugs the chance to evacuate! Then the most laborious part, made better by interesting conversations on the Rich Roll podcast, topping and tailing each hip. Then just give the top and tail-less hip a little squish under the flat blade on the knife. This will allow access to all the goodness within.

Add these to a pan with a sliced lemon and two mugs of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for quarter of an hour. You will then need to strain theis mix through any appropriate muslin. This is especially important as the seeds within the hips are covered in hair, as you may know if you ever used them as itching powder as a kiddo!

So this tonic is the good shizzle, this contains all the goodness and we now need to add this to a clean thick bottomed pan with two cups of suger. You can use any sugar, my preference this time was brown, but use whichever you like.

Now it’s time for your lab coat. bring the mix to boil and then reduce to a simmer. You will need to nurture this for roughly 45 minutes. I was happy with mine after 35, but just keep checking on the consistency. To do this add a little to a plate from your stirring spoon and allow to cool for 5 minutes. If the syrup has thickened after cooling and you are happy with the thickness, then you are ready to decant into a sterilised jar.

The next challenge is to manifest some patience and allow the syrup to cool thoroughly overnight until you can add a large spoonful to your moring tea or coffee!

If you ttempt this recipe please let us know how you get on with it. If you pop over to Home is Where our Heart is, please tell them we sent you. And finally if you’ve got some hedgerow or foraging recipes you like to share, then comment below or email us via the contact page.

Thanks for reading.

Look after yourself

Stay afloat and Love yourself

Chris

xxx