TIPS ABOUT HIPS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 192, 26 February 1943, Page 18

TIPS ABOUT HIPS

(Written for "The Listener’ by DR.

MURIEL

BELL

Nutritionist to the Department of Health)

HOSE who think this is going to be a slimming article are doomed to disappointment. Last -year we gave the advice to "gather ye rose-hips while ye may." Some of you did-and cursed over the recipe with its three extractions; but your mathematical friends will explain why it is better to make three extractions than one. We again advise you to follow the recipe given last year; it is printed in Good Nutrition, page 104 in the 1942 edition, though we need to draw your attention to a missing line: the 18th line on the page should read "add 2 pints of boiling water, boil for 5-10 minutes, squeeze again through the jelly bag; return the residue to the pan, add a further 2 pints of boiling water, boil for 5-10 minutes, and strain for the third time." In view of the shortage of paper, we hope that you will be able to get the recipes in full from this source, or alternatively

from your Plunket Society, which will sell you a typed copy for a penny. To Be Made Commercially To add to the tribulations which some of you considered you had to suffer with the recipe, there were those of you who lost your supplies and your sugar through fermentation (which, we have since learned, unfortunately diminished the vitamin value.) Those of you who are unwilling to take this risk during the coming season, and those who have not the opportunity of going to the country, there to say "hip, hip, hooray" as you get a thorn in your finger, will be glad to know that the Food Controller has given his consent for sugar to be used in the commercial manufacture of rose-hip syrup, by firms that are able to tap the resources of Otago and Southland. We are hoping that the school’ children who have beeh circularised will

co-operate in this drive for harvesting the wild rose berries that abound in the south. We do not wish the others who have the berries within easy reach and who were successful last year (or who wish to make it for the first time) to relax their efforts to make a good supply. If you do not need the berries yourselves, someone in a town will be glad to buy them from the shops. Remember that we have been warned that we shall be shorter of oranges than ever before. Make it for babies and children; make it against colds or fevers. Make it as soon as the berries become red; do not leave them until they become wrinkled; make it as soon as you have picked them, An Opinion from Gisborne Not having had the misfortunes in the south that were suffered in the north, we obtained an opinion from Gisborne as to whether it was worth while to make rose-hip syrup privately. "I made up 30lbs. of berries in Gisborne and had no failures," was the reply. The precautions that this mother took were as follow:-"When the straining was finished I brought the mixed syrup ‘to boiling point and boiled for five minutes, then filled it while hot into the bottles which had been baking, along (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page) with their tops, in the oven for 20 minutes. I was always careful to seal immediately after filling the jars or vinegar bottles with bakelite tops-the latter were dipped into wax after screwing; or I used the little rubber-lined caps called ‘Cork-n-Seal’; these caps (as also the rubber rings for the preserving jars) were boiled in water for one or two minutes. I still have syrup done by each of the three methods, and it all appears perfect." We might add the further tip that old corks will need an hour’s boiling; and then for safety should be dipped into hot paraffin wax before they are inserted into the bottles. New corks are better. Small bottles are preferable to large ones. Some of you may like to make rosehip jam; in Mrs. Gaskell’s time it used to be a remedy that the doctor kept in his dispensary.