A LITTLE BIT OF SWEET WINTER GOODNESS
Rosehips, glorious colour at a time when all is beginning to fade and die. Rosehip syrup, glorious sweet nectar with oodles of vitamin C for the cold days, long nights, snotty noses and rasping throats.
Dollop it on your breakfast porridge or baked rice pudding, drizzle it over ice-cream, stir it into yoghurt. Add a spoonful to a cup of hot lemon juice or into your favourite smoothie.
Forget about the sugar content, we all need a bit of something naughty every now and then. That's what winters are made for.
What you need:
1kg rosehips
1.25 litres water
325g sugar for each 500ml of juice
Doubled up muslin for straining (or two stockings, or anything you have lying around that you can make into a straining bag - I use an old net curtain, folded over twice with a piece of twine sewn round the edge that pulls it into a drawstring bag. Perfect as it can be rinsed out and re-used).
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| Easy to make straining bag |
What you do:
1. Sterilise your containers.
2. Roughly chop the rosehips - use an electric chopper if you can - put in a saucepan
3. Add the water to the rosehips, bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 minutes
4. Pour the mixture into your straining bag suspended over a bowl and leave for at least 30 minutes
5. Squash down the pulp to get out every last drop of the rosehip goodness
6. Measure your juice, put in a saucepan with 325g of sugar for every 500ml of juice extracted
7. Stir well and bring slowly to the boil, gradually allowing the sugar to dissolve
8. Boil well for 3 - 4 minutes, skimming off any scum
9. Pour straight into your prepared jars, store and enjoy
* Recipe comes via River Cottage
