I love Autumn because it heralds the arrival of rose hips! If you take a walk through the woods this time of year you are bound to come across plenty of the jewel-like fruit glowing amongst the fall foliage. Many people tend to dismiss them, but rose hips are fantastic in recipes and have plenty nutritional, and even medicinal, benefits.
Rose hips are packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and are the perfect simple addition to several recipes. Like blueberries and goji berries, rose hips are classed as a “super food” because they are packed full of goodness. I bet you didn’t realize you such a cheap alternative to the store bought super food sprouting in your back yard, did you?
I enjoy the subtle, slightly tart and spicy flavour of rose hips but some people find them sour like cranberries. If you are going to cook with rose hips, be sure to avoid their hairy seeds as they are an intestinal irritant. Instead, slice them down the middle and scoop the seeds out with tea spoon.
I enjoy my rose hips in tea, especially during the colder months. Rose hips contain the highest concentration of vitamin C available which makes rose hip tea the perfect drink for fighting off nasty colds. I also enjoy rose hips in salsa and in jelly. Here is a simple recipe for rose hip jelly.
Happy rose hip foraging dear readers!
- 4 quarts ripe rose hips
- 2 quarts water
- 1 package pectin crystals
- 5 cups sugar
- ½ cup lemon juice
- Simmer the rosehips in water until soft.
- Crush the rosehips to mash and strain through a jelly bag or muslin cloth. (You should have 4 cups of beautiful juice)
- Add lemon juice and pectin crystals to rose hip juice and stir. Bring to a rolling boil and then add the sugar.
- Boil for 1 minute then remove from heat and skim foam the top with a metal spoon.
- Pour jelly into hot sterilized jars and leave to set.
- Enjoy!
Can you make jam instead if you scoop out the seeds b4 cooking and saving the pulp?