Rosehips have been used for many, many years and it’s common knowledge that there is more vitamin C, pound-for-pound, than in an Orange. But what does it taste like? Well that’s a difficult question to answer as there isn’t anything else similar tasting. The best I can do is to say that it’s like a citrus fruit, but not like any other citrus fruit you’ve ever tasted.
It can be served as a lovely cold drink, a hot drink, and even as a non-alcoholic hot spiced cordial which is very reminiscent of mulled wine.
You can make this with cultivated rosehips (as long as they haven’t been sprayed), but I find that wild rosehips are much nicer.
What you’ll need:
- 1kg of wild rosehips.
- 3 litres water.
- 500g sugar.
- Juice of 2 lemons or 2 teaspoons citric acid.
How to make it:
- If your rosehips aren’t quite ripe and squishy, freeze them for a couple of days, then defrost them.
- Roughly chop your rosehips and put in a pot with 2 litres of water.
- Bring to the boil and keep boiling for 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool and strain through a double layer of muslin, squeezing out as much juice as you can.
- Put the pulp back into the pan and add another 1 litre of water.
- Bring to the boil and keep boiling for 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool and strain through a double layer of muslin, squeezing out as much juice as you can.
- Discard the pulp now and bring the juice together in a pan.
- Put the juice back on the heat and add the sugar, keep stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Allow to cool, then decant into sterilised bottles.
This will keep for 3 months or more in the fridge, if you can avoid drinking it all before then!
