Born in the Wrong Century

I started off this spring picking some wild rose petals and leaves to dry for tea and wanted to wait until later in the year to finish off the tea with some of the rose hips.  So this fall I gathered up a few colanders of rose hips and put them to use in a few different ways.

The hips pull of easily but watch out for the thorns!

Dried Rose Hips

{How To} Dry Rose Hips
To dry the rose hips I pulled off the stems and bottom end and laid them out on a window screen.  They took a while to dry out so I just left them in a pan in a dark area until they were completely dry.

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Rose Hip Syrup

{Recipe} Rose Hip Syrup
4 cups rose hips (pull off stem & bottom)
2 cups filtered water
Organic sugar

Place hips and water in a sauce pan and boil for 20 minutes, covered.  Strain through a jelly bag and measure “juice,” pour back into a clean sauce pan.  Add up to the same amount of organic sugar as measured juice and bring to a boil.  Store in fridge or hot water bath can.  (I put the hips that were strained out into the hips for my batch of ketchup… 2 for 1!)

{Recipe} Rose Hip Ketchup
12 cups of rose hips (pull off stem & bottom) = ~2 quarts of puree
Filtered water
2 garlic cloves, chopped fine
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 cup organic brown sugar
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
Pinch of nutmeg
1 cup apple cider vinegar

Place hips into a large pan and add filtered water just until you can see it on the surface.  Boil hips until they are soft and press the rose hip puree through a strainer into a large bowl.  Repeat until you’ve strained all the hips and set the pulp to the side.  Repeat this process with the pulp (add water, boil and strain again) a couple more times until you’ve removed all the rose hip fruit.

Place puree into a dutch oven and add the garlic and onions.  Bring puree up to a boil and simmer until the onions are tender.  Use a stand or immersion blender to process the puree into a smooth sauce.  Bring puree back up to a boil and add brown sugar, spices and vinegar.  Simmer, stirring often, until you reach your desired thickness.  Ladle the ketchup into hot, sterile jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Wipe the rims and seal.  Process the jars for 20 minutes (for 5k’ elevation) in a hot water bath.  Let cool and check the seals.

Little bottles for gifts.