Rosehip Syrup

As October has shortened it's days, in these past few weeks, the hedgerows have become fat with berries. Sloes, purple dusted, clustered like unsung grapes...

...blackberries, bursting with sweet and apple flavours picked glistening with rain from the bushes, fat hips blushing in crowded communion on their thorny bushes....It's been a good autumn, the late sun has brought out the best in them.

We took the harvested rosehips and made a syrup (apparently high in vitamin C). It's quite a delicate syrup, and only slightly viscous - it flows quite freely. But boosting the sugar content and boiling it for longer would help, or adding pectin (liquid, or from elderberries, crab apples) with a spot of lemon juice would too. The taste is quite floral, sweet, but not overly so. Poured over fresh melon, it was delicious, and will liven up creme brulees, panna cotta, and homemade ice-creams as the happily erupt from the winter kitchen.

Here's the Recipe, with video to follow....

The works in the picking here. The making is simple in comparison.

1 kilo of rosehips, detwigged and washed in cold water.

3 litres of water.

750g of sugar (some recipes call for 250 more, some for 250 less, this amount worked well in taste terms, but was a little liquidy when cooked)

Blitz your rosehips in a blender, not to puree, but until all the hips are crushed - the video has a good shot.

Pour in two litres of the water and the crushed hips into a pot. Bring to the boil. Simmer for ten minutes.

Pour off the liquid - we lined a colander with muslin, and tipped the entire contents in.

Reserve the liquid, and boil up the rosehips with the last litre of water. Simmer again, for ten minutes.

Again, drain, using muslin and a colander, but leave to drain for a while - from one hour to overnight. Be careful not to press the pulp to drain it, you may get a cloudy syrup.

After straining, add all the strained liquid to a pot, and add the sugar. Sterilise your jars (we put ours in boiling water, and swirl them around with a fork, and lift them out onto a cloth, with the same fork. Ditto the lids.

Boil your liquid for a couple of minutes (we went for 5, some recipes call for 10), and then pour directly into your jars. Screw the lids on tight - you'll need a towel to handle the hot jars, and turn upside down for two minutes or so.

Eh voila, the finished product below....(I really need a better camera)