We started by collecting the rose hips, but please remember only pick berries if you know exactly what you are picking. After washing and sorting out the good ones we ended up with about 500g.
Due to their hardness it is best to chop the rose hips first either by hand or in a food processor. Then put the whole lot in a pan and bring to the boil with double the amount of liquid to rose hips, so in our case we put in a litre.
We boiled this for about 5 to 10 minutes then left it to steep for 20 minutes. The cooled mixture was then put through a straining bag to leave us with just liquid and no pips. This strained liquid needs to be returned to the pan and re heated to add and dissolve the sugar, usually with syrups I add an equal amount of sugar to the liquid... so if your end product is 1 litre you would add 1 kilogram of sugar but I have found this quite sweet so we have added slightly less. If you add the sugar a little at a time you can stop at a level which is sweet enough for you, it is also possible to add honey instead of sugar which is something we will be doing next year.
Here is the finished product, I have taken the photograph outside so that you can see the wonderful colour. This is not only a very effective natural remedy but also tastes divine on natural yoghurt or ice cream.
The rose hip syrup has had special meaning to the children this year as we have been watching a wonderful history program called Wartime Farm, and they went into details of how important this was to children's health during the war.
We have also made elderberry syrup again this year as another of our natural remedies for the home medicine cabinet. We made double the amount of this as it was so effective last year, if you would like to make some you can find it here.
Going to be making elderberry syrup this weekend. I suspect we have Rosehip about too, and if I was certain of it's identity I'd have a go at that too, but I'm not :(
ReplyDeleteWe love the rose hip syrup, and I have found it one of the easiest to recognise whilst out foraging, but it is best to be sure :)
DeleteLove the colour of the rose hip syrup! We picked and froze a huge amount of elderberries recently and we are going to make syrup so will have a look at your tried and tested recipe :)
ReplyDeleteThe colour of the rose hip syrup is amazing. The elderberry is lovely too and has many health benefits, the children are happy to have a spoonful of that when they are poorly :)
DeleteYum! Hoping to grow elderberry and rosehip for next year and make our own too.
ReplyDeleteThese syrups really are worth the effort, good luck for next year :)
Deletehave often eaten rose hips raw - with the syrup, do you chop & boil the whole thing? You don't have to clean out the fluff first?
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I'm racking my brains as to what you could possibly confuse rosehips with!
I've been wanting to make elderberry syrup for years, but am yet to find a source that isn't in someone's garden or bang smack by a busy road :(
Yes just chop and boil the whole thing, no fluff removal required, as you are straining all the pulp and pips out after cooking.
DeleteI agree with you, I have found rose hips to be one of the easiest to recognise.
We are quite lucky as we live backing on to countryside and have many natural spaces away from roads to forage... The syrups are definitely well worth the effort :)
It looks lovely. I haven't made any syrups this year but I'm still working my way through some haw syrup from a previous year which is great for anxiety. I do have a lot of rosehips in the garden at the moment - I don't know whether to get boiling them up or to make a pretty wreath out of them!
ReplyDeleteI seem to need to make the syrups every year as we always get through them. I also have hawthorn syrup.
DeleteI love the colour and taste of the rose hips which is why I made the syrup first but have also been toying with the idea of drying some to use for tea. Have also promised my daughter a rose hip threaded bracelet, which I must not forget to do :)