Raw rosehip syrup is a no-cook rosehip syrup recipe that uses sugar to draw the juice from the fruit resulting in a thick, delicious syrup.
Traditional rosehip syrup recipes require boiling the fruit to a pulp. Not only is this process time consuming, but there is also a common belief that boiling reduces the Vitamin C content of foods.
Since our raw rosehip syrup recipe involves no cooking, we hope that our method preserves as much of the rosehips goodness as possible.
Does boiling really destroy Vitamin C?
It is thought that heating Vitamin C to boiling point affects it in several ways.
Firstly, Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, so when produce is boiled, some will leech out. In the case of fruit syrups, you are not discarding the water, so you won’t necessarily lose the vitamin through this process.
Vitamin C also decomposes when heated, and the decomposition increases over time. This means that even taking into account leeching of the vitamin into the cooking water, the longer you cook Vitamin C rich foods for, the more of the vitamin is destroyed.
Finally, Vitamin C combines with metals, and in particular copper, leading to another potential loss of the vitamin through cooking.
To conclude, some vitamin C is lost through the cooking process, and the longer food is cooked for, the more vitamin is lost.
Can you use any rose hips for syrup?
Rosehip berries are the beautiful red fruit of the rose (Rosa) bush. All roses and their fruit are edible, although flavour varies depending on the variety. We are fortunate in that we have lots of wild dog rose bushes growing in the hedgerows around our house and they have an excellent flavour.
Roses and their rosehip berries have been used as food, medicine and in cosmetics for millennia. The ancient Greeks and Romans highly prized them for their health benefits.
Packed full of vitamin C and Iron, a syrup made from these fruits has a long history of being used here in the UK to prevent colds, particularly in children. They also taste fantastic combined withcrab apples to make a Jelly.
What you need to make raw rosehip syrup.
A clean, widemouthed glass jar. I used a 1-litre Kilner jar (Amazon Affiliate link)
Freshly picked Rosehips
Sugar of your choice. I used white caster sugar.
How to make raw rosehip syrup.
Wash the Rosehips in cold water and spread out on a tea towel to dry.
Use a sharp knife to top and tail each rosehip and score around the middle of each to break the top layer of skin. This step is crucial as it will allow the sugar to draw out the juice from the rosehips. You can just see how the rosehips are scored in the photo below.
Add a layer of sugar to the bottom of the glass jar followed by a layer of the prepared hips.
Continue to layer the sugar and rosehips until the jar is full. Tapping the jar on the counter will help the contents settle and avoid any air gaps.
Seal the jar and leave on a warm sunny windowsill. The sugar will draw the juice from the rosehips and slowly turn into a thick raw rosehip syrup. The syrup made here took about three months for the sugar to fully liquefy.
The photo below shows the syrup part way through the process. You can still see some sugar at the top and bottom of the jar.
I like to leave my syrup for a couple of weeks after all the sugar has dissolved before I strain and bottle into sterile bottles.
Top Tips for making raw rosehip syrup.
Top and tailing and scoring the rosehips takes a little time but is an essential part of the process. Skipping this step will mean that the sugar won’t be able to draw out the juice and will never dissolve.
Rosehips contain hairs which can cause irritation, so it is vital to remove these by straining the raw rosehip syrup through muslin to remove them.
After you have strained the rosehips out of the syrup, return them back to the jar and top up with a spirit of your choice to make an easy version of our rosehip liqueur recipe.
And here is my thick, fragrant raw rosehip syrup. Its colour and taste are just as vibrant as the traditionally cooked syrup.
The difference is the texture of this no-cook rosehip syrup recipe. Due to the lack of added fluid, raw rosehip syrup is really thick.
Perfect for pouring over pancakes or using as a cordial.
If you have enjoyed our raw rosehip syrup recipe, why not check out some of our other wonderful foraged and hedgerow liqueurs and recipes. You can find a list of our favourites below.
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