ROSE HIP PRESERVES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 52, 2 March 1943, Page 6

ROSE HIP PRESERVES

METHOD OF PREPARING SYRUP BERRIES NOW PLENTIFUL (Prepared lay the. Department of Nutritional Research) 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 the briar rose groAving wild in New Zealand. Also, new information has come to hand through the Liaison Officer of the Department of Scientific 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 microscopic examination for the irritating hairs, they make 1 the following tentative suggestions as to the best method to adopt. Rich in Vitamin C The fruit of the wild rose or briar rose (rose hips, as they arc 'called not to be confused with the haws of the hawthorn) should be gathered when they arc reddening which is the stage when they are richest in vitamin G; it is better not to have them either 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 hips 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 Avill not need to be discarded. Rose Hip Syrup Method: Remove the stalks and the' leafy calyx at the end of the berry. Put oTbs of berries in an aluminium or enamel saucepan and cover them with 3 pints of boiling water, bring to the boil, keep boiling until they have softened (about % hour). Then mash them, either with a wooden spoon, or (less tedious) with the bottom of an aluminium or enamel jug. There results a thick mass which should now be diluted with a further two pints of boiling water. Bring to the boil, taking care not to burn them—stir all the time. Leave till cold enough to handle. Squeeze through the jelly bag by hand, collecting as much as possible of the thick, mucilaginous liquor that comes through. Keeping the jelly bag unwashed, return the residue to the pan, add 2 pints of boiling water, boil for 5-10 minutes and. strain for the. third time. (The residue still has some value in it, so do not discard. Sec instructions below). Now mix the three lots of squeezed liquor, put into a clean jelly bag,, i.e., a fresh- one, and allow to drip without squeezing. A total of about 2 quarts is thus collected. Boil, and add %lb sugar for every pint of fluid; boil the syrup for about three minutes. Meantime, sterilise bottles and corks by immersing them in water and boiling them for 20 minutes. Add the hot. syrup to the hot bottles: immediately insert sterile corks, allowing for the fact that the corks Avill be sucked in somewhat during the cooling process. Seal when the fluid has cooled and the corks have been sucked down as, far as they are likely to go.. lit. is> convenient to seal with clarified mutton fat, or with a mixture of resin (8oz), beeswax (loz) and vaseline (loz). The latter is prepared according to the accompanying recipe. Small bott'es maj' thus be used for holding the syrup. The vitamin C value of the resulting syrup, if the above directions a r e close'y followed, is 'about four times that of orange juice, for which it may be used as,a substitute. Two teaspoons a**e thus enough for a baby's daily ration. Second Straining Necessary : ri inu;' insisted that., as in the ->Hons, a second straining is necessary, because a great many . o'' Hi e >'•'*" a ting hairs (which cause :"a- h"ea) arc present if tire juice ' squeezed through the bag. Mt-ppvo- n. e ]) a g itself retains the J)"— 't is washed, dried and t j lc , f or a f re - s ]i ' Off making the final strain•od iu next column)

• The residue Avill still give a fourth liquor richer than orange juice if it is worked 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 too much sugar to get the requisite dose for «i baby. The Nutrition Research Committee regrets that this information is too late to reach the areas in the north where the crop of berries is nearly over? it was necessary to try out the methods before being able, to give figures for 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 a more viscous liquid. The berries are. now ripe throughout the Bay of Plenty and advantage should be taken by all mothers of young families. PREPARATION OF WAX Resin Boz, beeswax loz, vaseline loz. Break- resin up with hammer and place with beeswax (.shredded) and vaseline in a tin can or .stonewall jar standing in a saucepan of boiling water. Heat mixture until it melts (3 hours or more) and then stir thoroughly. After use the can and remaining wax should be removed from the hot water and stored for further use.