So much about following a whole foods diet revolves around avoiding things and foods that used to be your norm, that sometimes it's hard to see how much there is to embrace that didn't used to be your norm! So last week when I was doing one of my yearly chores that I love - collecting and preserving some local wild crafted produce, I realised I needed to remind fellow real food followers (what a lovely interrupted alliteration, don't you agree?) that there is so much to look forward to as opposed to always thinking about what you're missing; if you do at all.
I wanted to write a post about rosehips and provide
some simple recipes to use these beautiful, healthful little gems. SO many
people pass them by without even noticing them unless for their striking colour, yet they could well be an answer to
robust winter health for many who suffer in the colder weather.
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| Gorgeous this year! |
Here is a link to a website that gives such
wonderful information on rosehips I couldn’t possibly hope to do better, so
please go and have a look! Then come back here and use the recipes
which don’t incorporate unhealthy additions such as sugar or agave nectar.
Though cheap and plentiful (and useful for preserving foods) sugar actually requires
that the body donate vitamins and minerals to process the sugar molecules; in
other words where rosehips will give your body a good dose of excellent vitamins
and minerals, a lot of those will be used up by the processing of the sugar you
used to make the syrup or jelly. To me that doesn’t seem a great trade,
especially at a time of year when you’re likely to be indulging more than
during the summer months and your body will be actively trying to replace lost
elements donated to processing these depleting “dead” foods.
Using honey instead will actually improve the
benefits of the rosehips due to its antimicrobial capabilities. It is always
best to buy raw organic local honey, but I’ve had success with supermarket
brand honey such as Morrisons Clear honey (though not the smart price option)
and even better with Sainsbury’s Organic honey. They’re not local, and they’re
blended with other honeys and they’re possibly heat treated too, but the syrups
and medicines I make from them don’t go off, so I know that they still
retain at least some of their antimicrobial action. When I have my own bees
this will no longer be a worry :-D Until then I have to think about the
sustainability of our finances. Here is a great post that talks about the
wonders of honey.
The rosehips of the dog rose grow rampant round my way and I collect
as many as I can every year. I just can't help myself; they are so plentiful!
And this year they are so round and red and sweet, I am planning on getting
some more tomorrow while this dry spell lasts. Can't have too many rosehips,
that's for sure, especially since it seems I am too late for the elderberries that I normally stock the freezer with for making jelly pots for the kids (see below) and for adding to the water kefir.
I have some rosehips drying, some I made into an unsweetened
juice/syrup/extract (whatever you want to call it; the high amount of pectin
gives a wonderful silky and thick liquid) and some I made into sweetened
syrup...accidentally. I was attempting to make jelly, but I really didn't want
to use sugar for reasons stated above and I really didn't want to boil it for
extensive periods of time and ruin all those wonderful vitamins and minerals.
So...basically... I didn't want to make jelly?? Anyway, the result was
delicious and the kids went mad for it. Since it only made a small amount as I
was just testing a recipe, I figure I do need to make more and stat!
As a side note, you’d be hard pressed to miss the huge clusters of
these bright gems dripping into the roads at the moment, but I don’t advocate
picking them from the roadside unless you have no access at all to a more
enclosed park or field border where you’re sure to find more. The fumes from
the traffic just can’t be good for you. But if you really are stuck for any other place
to gather from, roadside hips are better than no hips at all! Just soak them in
an apple cider vinegar solution (1 part vinegar to 3 parts water) for around 15
minutes before rinsing thoroughly to hopefully neautralise some of the toxins, as you would for washing non-organic veggies and fruit from the supermarket.
So, if you'll excuse the limited photography (I always forget to take photos unless I'm focused on that) here are a few recipes for you to try:
Accidental Rosehip Syrup (Makes a small batch, about a pint)
2 cups whole, rinsed rosehips
Generous dash of ground ginger or thumb sized piece fresh, grated
Pinch of salt
3 cups water
- Add all ingredients to a lidded pot and bring to a gentle boil, covered.
- Allow to simmer gently until the rosehips have softened enough to be mashed up with a potato masher.
- Simmer for a further 10 mins and then cool for 20-30mins in the covered pot.
- Strain through a muslin or cotton tea towel/cloth.
- You can let it drip if you want or you can squeeze it but beware it will be hot! And if you squeeze it it will not be clear, but rather a little opaque, which no one here even noticed (and I couldn’t afford the work surface space to wait for it to drip!)
- Once you have all the liquid, allow it to cool to room temperature (or at least no more than body temperature, dip a clean pinkie in to test)
- Add half as much honey as liquid. Eg: 600mls liquid = 300mls honey.
- Pour into sterilised jars and seal tightly. I use old honey jars and lids that sit in a Milton solution for a minimum of 20mins as I don’t like to deal with boiling jars; too many chances for accidents and I'm a clutz as it is!)
Don’t throw out the rosehip mush you collect in the cloth; you
could simmer this once more. That’s how potent these little jewels
are. This lasted over a week in the fridge, and I’m sure it would have lasted
longer but it disappeared mysteriously...
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| Straining the liquid... Whaddya think of my tiling? Lol ;-) |
Unsweetened Rosehip Extraction
This one is a lot less precise because I do what I usually tend to
do – bung it all in a pot and add water etc till it looks right lol! But here’s
a guide:
Twice the amount of water as (fresh) rosehips. If you’re looking into your
pot and the rosehips come up halfway, add water until it comes up two thirds of
the way, a good pinch of salt and you should be good to go.
Now you can get creative and add whatever you want or not. I left
mine plain so I can use it however I fancy in whatever I want eg tea, the
jellies I describe below or even in some of my pudding recipes where no one
will be able to notice it but I’ll know it’s in there, working it’s magic!
Additions that work well – Lemon, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom,
allspice, etc, use your imagination. Generally speaking, if it works with apple
it’ll work with the flavour of the rosehips.
Follow the simmering instructions above but instead of adding
honey when cooled, I froze mine into cubes and then dumped them into freezer
bags. Easy peasy and now you have rosehip extract on demand! Don’t forget to
make a second batch from the mush ;-)
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| Yes, I know I need new ice cube trays... |
How To Dry Rosehips
You can use the methods described in the post above or you can just dry
them whole. Last year I dried them in my dehydrator after cutting them in half
but not de-seeding them, but throughout the year I found myself avoiding them
because I’d have to scrape out the seeds and little hairs before I could do
anything with them.
This year I couldn't get to my dehydrator as it’s still packed up
from our move to the flat and I really didn't have time to spend halving
and de-seeding them all. So I just picked off the little caps on the flower ends
to allow for ventilation and then lay them on a tea towel on top of my tumble
dryer with another towel covering them to keep the dust off.
I'm hoping this will make them easier to use. Currently they've been drying for about a week and a half but are still a little spongy so I'm going to leave them another few days till I'm certain they’re completely dry.
Uses for these dry little rubies are infinite! I add them to the
stock pot, use them in teas, boil them up and add some yarrow to give when my
kids have a fever, make more syrup, and I'm sure I’ll think of more ways and
add them here as I do! What cool things do you do with these that you could
share with us?
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| Taken today - mostly dried |
UPDATE 30 October 2015: I just realised as I was preparing another batch of extract that I never gave any instructions for using your dried rosehips! A good rule of thumb would be 1 cup dried hips to 5 cups water if you want to only do it once, otherwise you can use 1 cup to 3 cups water and then do it again a bit later. I see no reason why you couldn't store them in the fridge for a few days between batches. Once you've decided how you want to do it, place the dried hips in a pot with a good lid and add the water and continue with the instructions I descibed in the accidental rosehip syrup/rosehip extract.
Rosehip and Lemon Jelly Pots
These are dead simple and I make them into little baby food pots
that I got in Asda for a bargain price of £2.50 for a tray of 8. The kids have a
jelly pot with their lunch most days for the extra protein and the benefits of
the gelatine, and I concoct different flavours every so often but they really
do adore the rosehip varieties! Unfortunately I didn't think to take any photos at all, but I'll try to remember next time I make some.
2L glass jug with 8 cubes of the plain rosehip extract
4 tbs lemon juice, freshly squeezed is best but works just as well
with bottled
2 tbs gelatine dissolved in ½ cup hot water
Add enough cold water to offset the heat of the gelatine mixture,
then add the gelatine and mix well
Add 4-6 heaped dessertspoons of honey, to taste
Make up to the 1L mark for stiff jellies or the 2pt mark for
slightly wobblier jellies
Pour into pots and refrigerate till set.
The kids love this made into ice lollies as well, which, with the
addition of ginger and turmeric (which adds great anti-inflammatory benefits
and colour) makes for very soothing pops during a chesty cold. Just omit the
gelatine but use the hot water to steep 1 tbs ginger and 1tsp turmeric a bit
before adding. Even better would be to boil the ginger and turmeric for a few
minutes first to really extract the beneficial compounds, then strain through a cloth to catch the grounds.
Rosehip and Apple Jelly Pots
2L glass jug with 8 cubes of plain rosehip extract
1 tbs cinnamon and 2 tbs gelatine dissolved in ½ cup hot water
1 L freshly pressed, not-from-concentrate apple juice (preferably
organic – Sainsbury’s do a good one)
Combine and pour into pots and refrigerate till set.
I hope you find this gives you the motivation to explore your
local park for some free goodies this Autumn, or some new inspiration for
recipes if you already do some wild-crafting when out and about. Please share any
tips you have in the comments below!
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