Can I use rose hips?

[Jimmy]

I have a pink rose bush on the corner of my house. I grew it from a cutting.

It has hundreds of flowers which turn into grape size rose hips.
They are turning red.

Can I use them for rose hip syrup, if so how?

Thanks
Jimmy

[burnie]

I tried making some wine years ago, never again, fiddly doesn't begin to cover it, you have to remove the little "hairs" at one end, took forever to do them all and the wine was a disappointment as well.

[nickdub]

If you can get big hips like the rosa rugosa type, they are not bad to eat - first take out all the seeds, then the pulp which is left can be made into jam or whatever.

[SarrissUK]

Big rosehips are easier to work with. If you want to make cordial, you don't have to take out the seeds - just bung them in water, bring to a boil, mash them up, drain. Fill up the water again with the pulp and boil again, mash again and drain again. Then reduce it down and add sugar to taste. Lovely stuff

Being Swedish, I grew up on rosehip soup, but always made out of a packet. I'd love to make the soup myself, but it's way too fiddly for me and I haven't got the patience.

[greenishfing]

I know that you can use them. My husband remembers that in WW2 him and his mates would make pocket money by picking them and taking them to the town hall ( he also got money for rats tails). I made wine with them once. They were horrible and fiddly and tasted vile.

[mothhawk]

I made Hugh Friendly-Whistlestop's rosehip syrup for the first time last year and wish I'd made more, it was delicious. I shall be making it again this year, even though picking wild rosehips is a scratchy, fiddly business.

https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/rosehip-syrup

[nickdub]

Anyone who likes the taste would do well to plant a few rosa rugosa bushes, whether in a hedge or on a bit of rough ground. They are strong growers, disease free, the thorns are small and the hips are about 3 times the size of a wild rose hip. I propagated a load from seed one year, and they came up like mustard and cress. Obviously layering or cuttings would be a faster way.

[ameno]

If you can get big hips like the rosa rugosa type, they are not bad to eat - first take out all the seeds, then the pulp which is left can be made into jam or whatever.

I tried making some wine years ago, never again, fiddly doesn't begin to cover it, you have to remove the little "hairs" at one end, took forever to do them all and the wine was a disappointment as well.

If you are making jelly, or wine, or cordial, or anything else where the pulp won't be in the finished product, you don't need to remove the seeds and hairs first. You can just filter them all out with muslin along with the fruit after you have stewed/steeped/brewed them.
I made rosehip wine a few years back and that's how I did it. Turned out very well, no hairs or anything in the finished wine, and it wasn't really any harder than any other fruit wine (although picking all of the rosehips in the first place took a while).

[Leslie Simpson]

Making wine is a good idea. Just think over the recipe exactly and create adequate conditions for fermentation. I have noticed that wines made from grapes and other fruits are prepared in different ways. Perhaps it depends on the variety. In general, there are subtleties of the process. If the grapes are enough to knead, and then strain when they ferment, then some fruits and berries require separate preparation.