Mary Fisher wrote:
"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
Following an article in Saga magazine and an item on Woman's Hour, I
went collecting rose hips.
What a business. I had to cook them for ages to get them soft and
kept addiing more water. Then straining off all the pips and hairs
was a real pain. A lot of washing up later I have 3 jars of jam/jelly,
and as much again of the puree to freeze to cook another day.
Has anyone else tried it?

I've done it for years, there IS a lot of preparation and washing up
involved but nothing worth doing is easy :-)

Any tips, or hints to make it easier?

I don't 'go collecting' hips, we have a wild rose in the garden and I use
its fruit. I'm torn between seeing the jewelled, arching branches through
the winter and possibly depriving birds (although there are a lot of other
berries around) and being self indulgent. This year I'll have the visual
delight because I have enough syrup and jelly left from last year and had
toe surgery last week which means I can't stand for long.

I use a huge pan and don't cut the fruit before it goes in. When it's soft I
put it in the blender then strain it roughly in a sieve and afterwards in a
very fine nylon (honey straining!) bag - overnight.

Woman's Hour said the hips are better after a frost, but I went ahead
anyway.

They're not as pretty after a frost and it's easy to think they've been
spoilt and discard them.

Apparently in Scandinavia "they" swear by it for their joints.

They lie! My joints aren't helped :-(

The price of the magic substance, litozin, makes the work worth while!

I use them because I can't bear waste and because I love the product. Jelly
is best but I often bottle some as syrup to use (diluted with cold water and
ice) as a summer drink. It's also good diluted with hot water for a warm
winter drink.

Mary
Pam in Bristol


Ah, all this reminds me as a child during the war we all went out
collecting rose hips for the war effort to be turned in rose hip by a
government body.