Preparing for Winter

mardatha

what can you do with rosehips ? if thats OT then sorry LOL tell me on another thread !

BitterAndTwisted

We used to be given rosehip cordial as kids, it's chock-full of vitamin C. I also buy rosehip tea from my local Turkish grocers, it's utterly delicious: if I had a fresh source available I'd have a go making my own

angelite_2

Hi everyone, it was definately colder last night. I quite like preparing for winter.

I have storage heaters which are so inefficient and cost a fortune, but the council are changing the heating system to oil soon, so I should be warmer this year. I know the oil won't be cheap, but last year it was so cold I went to bed with pyjamas, socks and a fleece robe on.

Gigervamp

mardatha wrote: »

what can you do with rosehips ? if thats OT then sorry LOL tell me on another thread !

Mardatha, try the Preservers Year thread. Rosehips is one of the current things being discussed, but they may also have cropped up earlier in the thread.

missychrissy

mardatha wrote: »

what can you do with rosehips ? if thats OT then sorry LOL tell me on another thread !

I make wine with mine. I can give you the recipe if you like. It tastes a bit like a sherry. I have just bottled 3 galls from last autumn that I am saving to open at Christmas. It should mature in the bottle a bit by then.

Butterfly_Brain

Found this on Flickr and I am in the process of making one now
http://www.flickr.com/photos/notmartha/sets/72057594068949613/

maryb

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

We used to be given rosehip cordial as kids, it's chock-full of vitamin C. I also buy rosehip tea from my local Turkish grocers, it's utterly delicious: if I had a fresh source available I'd have a go making my own

We used to have rosehip syrup poured over ice cream as a treat. YUM

Confuzzled

ocemeer wrote: »

Oh and Christmas to plan, though cant wait, blackberrying/sloes/crabapples/rosehips to pick and christmas puds and cakes to make bliss.

not sure about where you are but even up here in scotland the rosehips are ready to go already! i have already made a batch of rosehip syrup and i'll be going out to collect more soon as i plan to make rosehip jelly and some rosehip and coconut soup mmmmm

actually most things have come on quite early this year, the rowans are very ripe but they won't be as sweet without the frosts so i'm freezing mine for a week before i use them, that will sweeten them up a bit. i'd thought the rosehips might not be sweet enough but they were lovely without the aid of freezing though i may freeze some if i find enough ripe this foraging trip.

in fact, today i'm going to venture out to see if the brambles are ready, normally i wouldn't dream of looking before the end of september but with reports of others finding them so early and my own experiences with the hips and rowan berries i think it might be wise to at least look!

Confuzzled

mardatha wrote: »

what can you do with rosehips ? if thats OT then sorry LOL tell me on another thread !

well... i did a bunch of research for recipes to print out and some of the recipes i found were:

syrup
puree
leather (made with the puree, like fruit leather)
tea
soup (the rosehip and coconut soup is my idea, replacing the tomatoes i normally use)
candy
crumble
in apple sauce
jelly (with and without apples)
part of hedgerow jam
marmalade
drink (i mixed my rosehip syrup with water for a lovely drink but my recipe uses apples and honey!)
chutney
bread
cordial
wine

whilst cooking them i noticed they smell and look a lot like sweet cherry tomatoes. i suspect that if you get a batch that isn't too sweet like this lot i got then you could easily substitute them for tomatoes in some recipes. i would think you could try a rosehip chilli, rosehip curry and as i mentioned i'll be making rosehip and coconut soup instead of tomato and coconut soup.

the thing to remember is they arne't whole, you can't eat them without first getting rid of the hairy prickly seeds inside so you'll always have a thin puree to work with, you'll never get the texture of a coarsly chopped tomato but you can get a taste that is very pleasant indeed.

i gave a neighbour some of the drink i made with my rosehip syrup and he said it had hints of cinnamon and 'some pleasant fruit i can't quite describe' i'd only added sugar and water but as you can see it's a very versatile fruit!

mardatha

That's what's putting me off-- I can remember from childhood that they were horrible and hairy LOL !