The Cottage Smallholder

Hi all,

I would like some advice on my first attempt at Rosehip Syrup - I'm following (or trying to) Fiona's/Katey's recipe posted on this site.....

So, my first problem was trying to mince the blasted things.... first I tried to put them through my mother in law's ancient mincer ....... They were all so sticky that they kept popping out when I tried to press them through and didn't seem to want to move at all.... a tiny bit came out the end nicely minced but half of them ended up on the floor.... So after much swearing I tried putting them through my juicer which has a mincing function on it..... they all got stuck & the juicer made a lot of noise but not much else happened! I have a food processor as well but it's only a cheap thing and that also made enough noise to wake the dead but didn't really work either! 

Then I had the bright idea just to throw them into some boiling water, bring them back to the boil (as per recipe) and then mash them....That seemed to work ok and I ended up with a thick pulpy soup....  I've strained the pulp twice - once through a fine metal sieve and now through a tea towel - I know you're not supposed to squeeze it but if I do, what will happen, is the only problem that it will be cloudy, or is there another reason not to squeeze?

Can anyone give me any tips?? What have I done wrong??!! Help!

Also, just one other thing.... does anyone have any good ideas for the left over pulp, can it be used to dye fabric, for example?? It seems such a waste to throw it out, there's so much of the stuff!

Thanks so much!

Vee