Save autumn rosehips and make this vitamin-C rich syrup, perfect for pancakes or cordial.

Recipe: Kristina Jensen

Time: 2-2.5 hours

Use as many rosehips as you wish, but keep to the ratio of rosehips, water, and sugar in the ingredients list. You’ll need some muslin to carefully strain the syrup as the hips contain little hairs that are very irritating to the mouth, throat and digestive tract. You can use this syrup on pancakes, stirred into yoghurt, poured onto ice cream, or to make a hot or cold cordial. Rosehip syrup lasts for about four months and should be refrigerated once opened.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup rosehips
2.5 cups water
sugar

METHOD

1. Pulse each cup of rosehips with 2.5 cups of water in a food processor or blender until they are well chopped.
2. Transfer to a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed pot. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Strain the mixture through a double layer of muslin, letting the pulp sit for a good half hour with a heavy object on top so that all the juice passes through.
4. Tip the pulp out into a bowl. Wash the muslin thoroughly, fold it over twice to make four layers of cloth and strain the liquid again. This removes the tiny hairs inside the hips.
5. Measure the rosehip juice back into the pot. For every 500ml of liquid, add 350g of sugar. Heat slowly, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.
6. Bring to the boil and keep it boiling for 5 minutes.
7. Sterilise bottles in the oven for 15 minutes at 160°C. Pour the syrup carefully into the hot, sterilised bottles and seal. Label when bottles have cooled.

Kristina’s tip:

If you want to cut back on the sugar content, add only 200g of sugar for every 500ml of liquid and freeze the syrup in ice cube trays. The freezing process preserves the syrup; all you need to do is pop one out and add hot or cold water.