Katey’s Rosehip Syrup recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Cordials and Syrups | 224 comments
August rose hips in our garden
As a child this delight and a daily spoonful of rosehip syrup heralded the start of winter. At home we queued up, in order of age, as my mother doled out the syrup from a small bottle. She called it medicine. I’m sure that this is why it took me ages, as an adult, to consider trying rosehip syrup again. I discovered that homemade rosehip syrup is delicious and worth making. It is a good natural source of vitamin C. It also contains vitamins A, D and E, and antioxidants.
We have two large rose bushes growing on the east wall at the back of the cottage, that produce hundreds of hips each year. We use these to make apple and rosehip jelly in October. When the hips are softened by November frosts, we make syrup. Lots of it. We give a few bottles away to friends who are laid up with bad colds but most of our giant batch is guzzled by us throughout the winter. It tastes too good to be earmarked solely for the sick bed. Danny loves it stirred into creamy yoghurt or swirled over some home made vanilla ice cream. Somewhere in the barn, a demijohn of rosehip wine is still fermenting from last autumn.
If you don’t have roses in your garden there are lots of briar roses in the hedgerows. They are difficult to spot from a car so if you are somewhere rural and have half an hour to spare, it’s well worth walking or cycling along a footpath or a quiet country lane to see what you can find. Try and avoid busy roads as the fruit will have been exposed to exhaust fumes and nasties. Keep a couple of carrier bags in your coat pocket, just in case.
This recipe was given to me by my friend Katey. It is similar to the recipe given out by The Ministry of Food during WW2, although their’s has more sugar. She remembers being frogmarched to pick hips for rosehip syrup as a child. This didn’t put her off, she still makes it today.
Katey’s Rosehip Syrup recipe
Ingredients:
- 4.5 pts of water
- 2 lbs of rosehips
- 1lb of white granulated sugar
Method:
- There is no need to top and tail the rosehips if the liquid is going to be strained through a muslin bag. If you are using a steam juicer, pass the liquid through muslin – it will only take a few minutes.
- Bring 3 pts of water to the boil.
- Mince the rosehips through a course profile mincer (or food processor).
- Transfer the fruit into fast boiling water and bring to the boil again. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes.
- Pour through a sterilised jelly bag/or muslin square (how do I sterilise a jelly bag or muslin square? See Tips and tricks below) and allow the majority of the liquid to drip through.
- Return the pulp to the pan and add 1.5 pts of fresh boiling water and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes.
- Strain through the jelly bag again.
- Pour extracted liquid into a clean saucepan and boil to reduce the liquid to 1.5 pts.
- Add the sugar and boil rapidly fro another 5 minutes. Pour into hot sterile bottles and seal immediately. (How do I sterilise bottles? See Tips and tricks below).
Tips and tricks:
- Use small bottles (we use recycled vinegar bottles) as it only keeps for a week or so once opened. If you don’t want to use bottles the syrup can be frozen in cubes.
- How do I sterilise a jelly bag or muslin square?
Both can be scalded with boiling water. If you are using a clean muslin bag or square you can iron them with a hot iron. This also works with tea cloths.
- How do I sterilise bottles?
The sterilising method that we used is simple. Just before making the syrup, I quickly wash and rinse the bottles and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 160? (140? fan-assisted). When the oven has reached the right temperature I turn off the heat. The bottles will stay warm for quite a while. sterilise the lids by boiling these for a few minutes in water.
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Hi Matthew,
It is great that our recipes worked for you. I am so pleased.
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. Much appreciated.
Hi Alasdair,
This is good information. We don’t have sea buckthorn around here (as far as I know). But your comments will be so useful for people who have sea buckthorn in their area.
Ray Mears certainly knows his stuff and your additions are valuable. There is nothing like hands on experience of a hedgerow fruit. Googled the fruit in China. Amazing.
Ray Mears can be seen sqeezing the juice from these berries in his last wild food programme. The spiny bush has silvery grey pointed leaves with an orange to yellow berry. The juice is a little astringent but varies from bush to bush. It a cloudy orange, smells of cider and tastes vaguely of brambly apples. However, get past the flavour( which you get used to eventually) and you have a super power packed juice. Its keeps for about two to three weeks covered in the fridge. Google the name and see why the chinese have planted so many 1,000’s of acres of this plant. It is a wonder berry to rival all others, and its growing here wild in the UK. Go forth and enjoy.
thanks its all a great help ive tried several of the recipes given and so far all succesfull thanks again an english admirer
Hi Alasdair,
I am sorry but this is the only recipe that I have. I think that all cordials require boiling. Perhaps someone out there knows a different method?
You have just introduced me to sea buckthorn. What does it look like?
Hi I’ve been eating soft rosehips off the bush for a number of years now but have not tried the syrup recipe. Do you have a method for getting a syrup off these soft fruits without boiling them? Seems like a good harvest this year. Have you ever tried making a syrup from sea buckthorn. WE have a few closely guarded bushes down here in Kent but its a messy process!!
Excellent web site by the way.
Regards Alasdair
Hi Abi,
Rosehip vodka sounds just the ticket. I must try some this year. Thanks for the recipe! Yes, I tend to try a fruit vodka first when experimenting.
Glad that you are enjoying the site. It takes loads of time but is enormously satisfying and rewarding.
Hi Kerry,
The syrup should be ready to drink immediately. If you processed your bottles (as above) it should keep for about a year. Once a bottle has been opened, keep in the fridge and use within a couple of weeks.
Hi there,
I have made the syrup! When will it be ready?How long can it stay bottled for?
thanks for your previous advice. Brilliant website
Hi, for the smallholder and Kim (above), I made rosehip vodka last year and made it the same as I make sloe gin and vodka – 1lb fruit, up to 0.5lb sugar depending on how syrupy I want it, 70/75cl bottle booze. As I recall I used slightly less sugar thinking the hips are probably more sweet than sloes. Anyway, finally tried it a couple of months ago and it blew my head off, it was so good! It was a bit cloudy though as I did squeeze my muslin (I can never resist getting every last drop – I’m not trying to win prizes!). After filling one bottle I mixed the rest with a bit of elderflower cordial I had left over, and this was absolutely delicious. As a tip, if I’m trying fruit out for the first time (cranberries are good too, but not exactly hedgerow fayre!) I tend to use vodka, as I’m unsure how the fruit will go with the taste of gin – vodka’s neutral at least. Hope this helps. Website’s great by the way – how do you find the time?
Hi Ruth,
I am so sorry but I can’t answer your question vis a vie the final vitamin C value for your two suggested alternative methods. All I know is that the syrup is a great source of vitamin C, perhaps it is not destroyed by boiling?
Thank you so much for leaving this comment. Perhaps someone else knows the answer.
Hi there – what a helpful message board! Just collected about 5lb of rosehips with husband & children. Wondered if all the boiling is esential for making rosehip syrup as it must reduce the Vitamin C content such a lot. Mrs Beeton has a cold pressing method for making syrups, but I’m not sure if it’s really only for soft fruits. Method says to crush in a bowl, repeating each day for 5 days, during which the pectin in the fruit breaks down & the juice is released. Alternatively, I was wondering about processing the hips through a juicer, then going straight to your step 9 above. Am I wasting my energy worrying about it, because all the Vit C will be destroyed by the final boiling anyway?! Many thanks, Ruth