Rose-Hip Jelly

Photo courtesy of Photography by Sadiq

Here's another foraged recipe made using rose-hips and apples or pears all of which grow in an abundance during autumn months. This recipe is a great way to use up foods that are most likely growing on your street or in the yard. However if you can't be bothered making jelly you can always pop into Kaffeine and buy a couple jars to get you through the winter.

1kg rose-hips
4kg quince pears or crab apples
1 lemon
Granulated sugar

Method:
Place rose-hips and pears or apples in a large pot and pour in water until fruit is just covered. Put pot over a high heat and bring to a simmer, once simmering leave to cook for 20 minutes. Line a large colander strainer with muslin cloth and place over a large bowl of pot. Once the fruit is mushy and has started to disintegrate pour the fruit into the strainer and leave uncovered to drain for 8 hours or over night.

Remove the muslin and strainer and discard the pulp, then measure the liquid: for every litre you will need 750g sugar. Place liquid  sugar and juice of lemon in a large pot and place over a high heat, bring to the boil then cook for 30-40 minutes. Place a small sauce in the fridge to cool completely as this will be used to test setting point of the jelly. To see if the jelly is ready, pour a tablespoon of jelly on cold saucer and place back in the fridge for one minute, then run your finger through the middle. If the jelly wrinkles and doesn't merge back together, the jelly is ready.

Pour into sterilised jars and screw on lids while still hot, leave jelly to set for 3 days before using.

Rose-Hip Sauce

Rose-hip berries look like cherry tomatoes but taste very similar to strawberries when cooked with a little sugar. They also contain a lot of grainy seeds which are edible but not very pleasant so I tend to sieve out the seeds and add a couple to the sauce at the end for contrast. Rose-hip sauce is lovely on ice cream or stirred into porridge, I even use it as a base for salad dressing. If stored in a cool, dark place unopened this sauce will last up to 3 months.

1kg rose-hip berries
500g sugar
1 lemon, juiced

METHOD:
Put rose-hips in a large heavy based saucepan add sugar, lemon juice and 200ml water. Place over a high heat and bring to the boil, cook for around 15 minutes until the flesh and seeds start to break up into a pulp. Remove from heat and pass rose-hips through fine sieve and pour into warm sterilised jars then screw on the lid tight and leave for a day before using.