Rosehip cordial

This is a very British drink - and full of vitamins. It is aromatic and soothing to the throat. It's a great thing to make that doesn't involve a lot of chopping for those with tendinitis tendencies!

Soak wild, freshly picked rosehips for an hour. Drain. At this point you can freeze and do the other steps another day or just plunge ahead.

To avoid chopping - I pour boiling water over the rosehips and let sit for half an hour.

Then I strain off the juice - and reserve for later! - and whizz the softened rosehips in the food processor.

Pour whizzed fruit into pan with more water and the strained juices and bring to a boil. Turn off and allow to infuse.

Pour this mix through four layers of muslin arranged in a colander over another pan or bowl.

The goal is to strain out all the irritating hairs, as well as seeds, etc.

Let drip overnight. Squeeze muslin to collect excess moisture - but maybe over a different bowl or you might do like me and dump all the irritating hairs back into the pure cordial!

Put in a pan and cook till the desired concentrate. Some people make rosehip syrup, some cordial.

For cordial, the recommended amount of sugar is usually
1 kilo rosehips - 350 g of sugar
or
1 pound rosehips - 1 cup sugar

I find I can put in a bit less sugar and it's fine.

Drink and enjoy! We usually drink ours within 3 days. It also freezes into ice lollies or ice cubes pretty well - these are fun to flavor smoothies with later!

If you want to try to keep it longer, add a campden tablet and put in a glass container with a non-metal lid.