Rose Hip Syrup – Two Ingredients to Deliciousness!
Once a very popular foraged food item, rose hips or rose haw are an excellent choice for anyone wanting start foraging. They are easy to identify and are fantastic when used in syrup, jelly and tea, or infused into oils and vinegar.
They are a great source of natural vitamins and have up to 25 times the amount of Vitamin C than oranges. Rose hips are also very rich in vitamins E, K, and B, and act as an antioxidant. This makes rose hips ideal for use in herbal remedies and as a wild foraged food in winter.
Harvest the hips when they turn darker red and the fruit starts softening slightly. I use beach rose hips, mainly because they are much larger than multiflora hips and incredibly abundant along the coasts of Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire, where I am located.
Ingredients
The best part about making rose hip syrup is that you only need 2 ingredients – rose hips and either sugar or honey, depending on how you plan to use it. For medicinal purposes, I recommend using raw honey, if available. The syrup should last for 3-6 months. For cocktails, ice cream and/or pancakes and baking, I use sugar, which makes it shelf stable, and good to use for up to 1 year.
Simply chop off the ends of the rose hips – called a beard – and throw the rest into a pot.
Bring to a boil with 750ml of water then simmer for 15 minutes.
Make sure to strain the cooked rose hips through cheesecloth twice. Why? Because rose hips have tiny hairs that will itch your throat if you don’t sift them thoroughly.
I used a 1:1 ratio of sugar to rose hip juice. Heat the juice in a pan and combine with sugar until it has fully dissolved, then boil for 3 minutes.
My Favorite Rose Hip Recipes
