Saturday, August 12, 2006, 19:50

Rose Hips

Just the other day, I noticed that in spite of the hot, dry weather this summer, my rugosa roses in the backyard actually had quite a few rose hips on them.

I've always wanted to try making rose hip jelly.

So this morning, I went out with my little berry pail and picked rose hips. I got almost half of a berry pail.

Picking rose hips, I noticed, is almost as painful as picking blackberries. The thorns on the roses make it difficult to pull the hips off the stem. But at least with roses, I don't have to wade in the middle of the bushes like I do with blackberries.

At the moment, I am cooking the rose hips

After I hatched the idea for rose hip jelly, I looked in the freezer to see if I had any frozen apples because Randy wants apple pie. I found some apples, and I also found a couple of packages of frozen pureed rhubarb. So instead of rose hip jelly, I'm going to try making Rhubarb-Rose Hip Pancake Syrup.

It ought to be an interesting endeavor, seeing as I've never made anything like that before.

Once I get the juice cooked off the rose hips, I will strain it and put the rhubarb in it, then I will strain the fibers out of the rhubarb/rose hip juice, and then I'll take it from there. I think I'll just cook it down the old-fashioned way, rather than trying to use SureJell.

Although, on second thought, seeing as it will be clear juice, maybe I ought to try the SureJell I've done that before to make Elderberry Pancake Syrup. I put in the right amount of sugar the recipe called for but about twice the juice, and then I cooked it according to package directions. I could get away with that with the sugar with elderberries. Elderberries have a mild flavor. I'll have to be more creative with the rhubarb/rose hip.

And speaking of elderberries, I don't think there will be too many elderberries this year. I noticed that many of the elderberry bushes were blooming in the middle of July and later. Elderberries generally bloom at the beginning of June.

While I was picking the rose hips, Charlie came out and tried to help me. He always likes to go berry picking, too, and eats his fair share of wild raspberries or blackberries. The only problem was, Charlie couldn't figure out what I was picking. Instead, he made himself comfortable underneath the lilac bush and watched. So did my black tom kitty cat, Rocky. They settled themselves in among the lilac leaves and kept an eye on me.

Pixie wasn't that interested in helping pick rose hips. But then, she's not that interested in picking blackberries or raspberries, either. She sits a ways off and watches, but she doesn't get right in the middle to pick berries the way Charlie does.

On the other hand, Pixie will most likely be right out in the kitchen when I'm making the pancake syrup. Anything that goes on in the kitchen is sure to have Pixie's full attention. I might drop something, you know, or there might be a pan or a bowl she can lick out. . .

LeAnn R. Ralph