Alison Odey

Rose Hips: Wonderful for winter, jam packed with Vitamin C.
However how to use them?
The following recipe for ‘Rose Hip relish’ is delightful, especially with crackers and cheese.
I discovered it while staying with cousins in the UK and spent a wonderful afternoon picking, peeling and making this.

You ideally need Rugosa rose bushes.
‘Rugosa Rosa’ is great, the hips are huge and easier to peel.
You need:
1 kg of rose hip flesh.
800gm of sugar
200ml water
100ml of white wine or light malt vinegar
1 lemon
Mix all together and boil until soft, with no lid on the saucepan. Takes about 25 minutes. Add the juice and grated zest of 1 lemon and bottle into small sterilized jars.
Keeps for ages but best kept in the fridge once opened.

Rose Hip syrup: There are many Rose hip syrup recipes on the internet.
Most use:
1kg of rose hips of any variety
2 ½ litres water
500gm of sugar or alternatively honey to taste.
Crush, chop, mince or coarsely blend the rose hips. Put immediately into 1 ½ litres of boiling water, bring back to the boil and then leave to infuse for 15 minutes.
Pour into a jelly bag and allow to drip until all the bulk liquid has come through.
Then place the residue back into the sauce pan with the remaining litre of water.
Re-boil, infuse and restrain.
Then pour the total amount of juice into a saucepan and reduce down until you have
approximately 1 litre of liquid. Add the sugar or preferably honey to taste.
This can then be bottled. Keep it in the fridge once opened.
Is a great, economical way of giving children a daily dose of Vitamin C.

PS: If anyone local does have Rugosa rose hips available that they don’t need, please give me a call. My attempt at growing this rose has so far failed and I would be very happy to come a pick any spare hips anyone may have as I have run out of my favourite relish.

Better still, has anyone got any spare ‘runners’ of this rose variety, then I can try growing it again over the winter. I think my last few plants did not establish themselves well enough before the ‘big dry’.