Rosehips
CAUTION: Do not eat without processing these correctly.
The seeds inside rosehips are covered in irritant hairs, that can irritate the human digestive tract. This is what has earned them the name of 'itchy pips' as these irritant hairs can make the skin very itchy if rubbed on it.
Rosehips take very careful processing in order to remove these hairs and eat them, so we recommend using them whole and making tea, vinegars or syrups from them.
Suggested uses:
Vinegar dressings - prick the rosehips with a fork and add them to a bottle of apple cider vinegar. Shake well every day for a week and leave to steep for at least 4 weeks. The red pigments and many other nutrients from the hips will leach into the vinegar. Strain the hips out and use the vinegar for making salad dressings, a marinade or a base for other sauces. You could also add a slice of lemon or orange to the vinegar to give it a burst of fresh complimentary flavours.
Tea: Prick the skin of 4-6 hips and place them in a saucepan - add enough water for 2cups of tea. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10minutes until the tea has turned an orangey/red hue.
Syrup: Boil the whole pot of hips in 300ml of water for 30minutes, when the hips are fully softened mash them well. Pour the water and mashed hip mixture through a double layered piece of muslin cloth - do not squeeze the mixture through, allow gravity to do the work (so you don't force any irritant hairs through the mixture. Filter this mixture through another double layered piece of muslin (to ensure you have definitely removed all of the irritant hairs). Collect the mixture and weigh it - add the same weight of brown sugar to the mix (you can use maple syrup or honey instead but use 50% less by weight than you would with sugar), boil it in a saucepan until it turns thick and syrupy. Pour into the serving bottle and use on yoghurt, fruit, porridge, toast, salads, cold meats or with cheese. Store in the fridge and use within a month.
Make an infused honey: Add the hips to a jar and fill hald way. Fill the jar of honey and leave to steep for 4 weeks. Remove the hips - without breaking the skin and use the rosehip infused honey in the same way you would normal honey.
