ORANGE SUBSTITUTE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 42, 20 April 1942, Page 5

ORANGE SUBSTITUTE

ROSE HIP PRESERVES VALUABLE PLUNKET RECIPES Several recipes have appeared in local papers and magazines for syrups and jams prepared from rose hips, which are extremely rich in Vitamin C and which. ' may thus serve as a substitute for oranges. These recipes have been taken from current English journals. Unfortunately they have given rise to some difficulties when applied to {he briar rose growing wild in New Zealand. Also, new information has conic to hand through the Liaison Officer of the Department of ScienLfic and. Industrial Research, suggesting modifications in the former recipes. The Department of Nutrition Research has tested out methods, and as a result of chemical tests for the vitamin and of microscopic examination for the irritating hairs, they make the following tentative suggestions as to the best method to adopt. The fruits of the wild rose or briar rose (rose hips, as they arc called; not to be confused with the laws of the hawthorn) should be gathered when they are reddening which is the stage Avhen they are richest in vitamin C; it is better not to have them green or too ripe; the green ones have quite an amount of the vitamin, but are harder to deal with, and may possibly have undesirable qualities if there is too. great a proportion of them; soft ripe (lips have lost a little of their vitamin. A few of these green ones or fully ripe ones mixed in with the others may however, be retained: they will not need to be discarded.

Rose Hip Syrup. Method: Remove the stalks and the leafy calyx at the end of the berry. Put 51bs of berries in an aluminium or enamel saucepan and coA'er them Avith 3 pints, of boiling Avater, bring to the boil, keep boiling until they have softened (about 3-4 hour). Then mash them, Avith either a wooden spoon, or (less tedious) Avith the bottom of the aluminum or enamel jug. There results a thick mass which should noAV be diluted Avith a further 2 pints of boiling Avater. Bring to the boil, taking care not to. burn them —stir all the time. LeaA'e till cold enough to' handle. Squeeze through a jelly bag by hand collecting as much as possible of the thick, mucilaginous liquor that comes through. Keeping the jelly bag umvashed, return tlie« residue to the pan, add 2 pints of boiling Avater, bring to the boil, boil for 5-40 minutes. Strain, i.e. squeeze once more. Again return the residue to the pan, add 2 pints of boiling Avater, boil for 5-10 minutes and strain, i.e. squeeze for the third time. (The residue still has some value in it, so do not discard, see instructions below). Noaa' mix the three lots of squeezed liquor, put into a clean jelly bag, i.e. a fcsli one, and alloAV to drip without squeezing. A total ol about 2 quarts is thus collected. Boil, and add 3-4lb sugar for every pint of fluid; boil the syrup for about three minutes. Meantime, sterilise bottles and corks by immersing them in Avater and boiling them for 20 minutes. Add the hot syrup to the hot bottles; immediately insert sterile corks, alloAving for the fact that the corks avill be sucked in somewhat during the cooling process. Seal Avhen the fluid has cooled doAvn and the corks have been sucked doAvn as far as they are likely to go. [t is convenient to seal AA T itli claiified mutton fat, or Avitli a mixture of resin (Soz) beeswax (loz) and vaseline (loz). The latter is prepared according to the l accompanying recipe. Small bottles may thus be used for holding the syrup.

The vitamin C value of the resulting syrup, if the above d Elections arc closely followed, is about ! times that of orange juice, for which it may be used as a substitute. Two teaspoons are thus enough for a baby's daily ration. N.B. it must be insisted that, as in the above directions, a second straining is necesary. because a great many of the irritating hairs (which mav cause diarrhoea) are present if the juice has been squeezed through the bag. Moreover, the bag itself retains the hairs until it is washed, dried and beaten; hence the need for a fresh jelly bag in making the final straining. The residue will still give a fourth liquor richer than orange juice if it is wof-ked up with a further pint of boiling water, strained and restrained. It is suggested that it may be used immediately or bottled separately and given to the older children--it would mean giving (Continued in next column)

too much sugar to got the requisite dose for a baby. The Nutrition Research Committee regrets that this inl'ormation is too late to reach the areas in the north Avhere the crop of berries is now over; if was necessary to. try out the methods before being able to give figures lor the rose hips that are grown in New Zealand, these being different from many of the varieties growing in England. Difficulties in the preparation have resulted through the New Zealand variety giving rise to u more viscous liquid.