Easy Rose Hip Syrup Recipe For High Dose Vitamin C - The Outdoor Apothecary (2024)

You can find rose hips in many locations and from any variety of rose bush. Forage forrose hipson rosebushes in the woods. You can also find wildrosesgrowing on the side of the road in some areas. And look for the very large and juicyrosehipsfrom Rosa rugosa or rockroses along coastlines and near water, even along irrigation ditches.

I live not far from the Connecticut coastline, so I typically gather from Rosa rugosa which produce large, plump rose hips like those pictured above.

To make our rose hip syrup, we will start by first making a tea that we will then add to honey to create our syrup.

To prepare your rose hips, you need to remove any stems, leaves, and brown flower bits (called the calyx) from the hips.

Then place them in a sieve and run them under cool water to rinse them well before putting them in a food processor.

Place your rinsed rose hips in your food processor and pulse several times to break the rose hips into smaller pieces.

Put your processed rose hips in a pot of water. For one cup of rose hips, use two cups of water — or a 2:1 ratio of water to rose hips.

Next, you’ll want to turn off the heat and allow the tea to cool, and the rose hips to steep. This will also allow the medicinal constituents more time to be extracted.

When your mixture has cooled, you’ll then want to strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer or several layers of cheesecloth to remove any of the fine hairs that are inside the rose hips.

These hairs can be irritating if consumed, so we always want to strain carefully.

You can squeeze the rose hips to get all the liquid out if need be.

It may be necessary to restrain your liquid if you see any of the fine hairs floating in it.

Restraining through a few layers of cheesecloth ought to do the trick.

Now comes the easiest and fun part. Making the Rose Hip Syrup!

The make the syrup, you’ll want to add equal parts of your strained rose hip tea to some local organic honey. So if you have one cup of rose hip tea, then add one cup of honey.

I always try to use local organic honey whenever possible because local honey has unique flavors that are lost when industrialized. Local honey can also help with allergies, as thiswill ensure that the honeyhas the allergens native to the areayoulive in. Buyinglocalis better and not just because it reduces pollution and saves resources.

Stir up your equal parts tea and honey. That’s all there is to it! You’ve made Rose Hip Syrup!

Store it in the refrigerator for up to 6 months, or freeze it for later use. Rose hips contain natural pectin, so your syrup might thicken over time to become more jelly like. That’s perfectly normal.

For use medicinally and for a high dose of vitamin C, take a spoonful daily. As a culinary delight, drizzle some on ice cream or add a spoonful to a cup of tea for some delicious flavor.