Childhood memory..the one and only Rosehip Syrup, Sept 2012

One of my memories of my childhood in Celbridge of all places is going down some of the side roads outside the village and hunting for rosehips with my mother. Then she would magically make the syrup, and I would take it to school in my red and orange flask, that went with my red and orange lunch box with yogi bear on the front.

I finally got around to making to for the first time myself a few years ago, and now make it ritually very autumn. I have even gone as far as to grow my own Rosa rugosa in my garden so I have my own crop of them to harvest from. Rosa rugosa is the cultivated rosehip, and is ready to harvest and use earlier than the wild rosehip, which isn't ready until the first frost has hit.

How I make Rosehip Syrup: This recipe is adapted from Roger Phillips amazing 'Wild Food' book, which as far as I know is now out of print.

Ingredients: (adapt this to the quantity of rosehips you have, you can use wild rosehips and the cultivated rosehip - Rosa rugosa) 2lb rosehips, 3 litres/41/2 pints water, 450g/1lb organic cane sugar, large cooking pit, sharp knife, muslin/jelly bag, 1l sealable bottles.

Method: Wash your rosehips, taking off the stalks as you go. Roughly chop up the rosehips and place in a pot of boiling water(2 litres). Bring back to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to sit and infuse for 15 minutes, (do not over boil your liquid here, gentle touch is very important through this whole process). Strain liquid and pulp through your jelly bag or muslin quickly. Return the pulp to the pot and add the remaining 1 litre of boiling water, return liquid to the boil, take it off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes and then strain as before. Pour ALL the juice (I strain the juice for a second time through muslin to make sure none of the hairs from the rosehips get into the liquid, you need to be very careful about making sure no hairs get into your drink) into a large, clean saucepan and simmer until it reduces to around 1 litre (1 1/2 pints), this takes quite a while, and make sure you don't boil the liquid or you lose the vitamin C and change the taste of the syrup! When it has reduced, add the sugar, stir until dissolved, then boil for 5 minutes. Pour the syrup, while still hot into hot, clean bottles or jars, sealing the lids immediately to seal the lids.

For sterilised jars/bottles, the best method is to cook them in the oven for around 20 minutes beforehand at around 100 degrees Celsius. Rosehip syrup has a tendency to go off more quickly than the other drinks and cordials. I am going to experiment with freezing some of the liquid this year to see if that works, and if it will elongate the time I get out of the rosehip syrup. If you open your bottle of syrup and find that there is some mould on the top of the liquid, do not despair, the syrup is actually still ok to drink. All I do is strain the liquid through some muslin again to get rid of the mould and the syrup is still delicious to drink. When I open a bottle of syrup I also keep it in the fridge until it's used up.

Plum chutney,literally to die for! Sept 2012

My aunt gave us a present of plum chutney last year at Christmas, and it was literally the most delicious chutney I have ever tasted, tasting the best alongside a few sausages for a kind of guilty pleasure lunch! So when my dad had a bumper crop of plums this year I took the opportunity to have a go at making the chutney myself. It didn't tutn out exactly like my aunts' but I have to say it is still pretty delicious, also it does need to mature for a few months as well!

How I make plum chutney: I used Delia Smith's recipe, it was the only one I could find. I followed it pretty much to the letter...
Ingredients: 3lb/1.3kg plums, 1kg cooking apples, 3 onions, 3 cloves garlic, 2 heaped tsp ground ginger, 1lb seedless organic raisins, 1lb dark soft brown sugar, 1lb demerara sugar (I used my organic cane sugar for all the sugar in this), 2 pints malt vinegar (again I always use whatever vinegar I have in the cupboard, I have a soft spot for white/red wine vinegar, I think it's a gentler vinegar, taste wise), 2 tbsp salt (I eased this in a bit at a time according to taste, to make sure it wasn't too salty), 2 small cinnamon sticks, 1 dessertspoon of whole cloves (I put the cinnamon and cloves in a small muslin bag and inserted in the pot, it's easier to remove them afterwards), Delia also has 1oz of allspice berries, which I don't think we have in Ireland, but the chutney tasted amazing on just the cloves and cinnamon anyway. A large pot, muslin, jars with lids.
Method: Wash and dry the plums. Slit them down the natural line of the fruit and de-stone them, putting the halved plums straight into your pot as you go. Core, peel and chop up the apples, adding them to the pan next. Chop the onions up finely and add to the pot.

Crush and chop the garlic, add it to the pot. Then add the ginger, raisins, the sugar and the vinegar. Sprinkle in the salt,carefully, tasting as you go and stir everything thoroughly. Put your spices in your muslin bag and add them to the mix. Bring the mix to the boil, carefully, then lower the heat and let the chutney simmer very gently for 2-3 hours! Yes, 2-3 hours! Be very careful of it, watch and make sure it doesn't boil up in any way, and keep stirring it regularly especially when you are getting near the end to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. When it has thickened up and the vinegar has nearly all disappeared that means it is ready. It will thicken more when it has cooled, so don't overcook it. While still warm ladle it into hot, sterilised jars, place a wax disc or piece of grease proof paper cut into a circle on the top and seal with a lid. Label and date when cold and store in a cool, dry cupboard. Leave to mature to for around three months before eating (I couldn't actually wait the three months and it was still delicious!)