Don't these little jewels just reek of Valentine’s Day cuteness?
My mother thought I was slightly deranged when I asked permission to harvest rose hips from the front garden one rainy day in December. “But they’re pretty,” I said, “and I’ve always wanted to make jam out of them.”
So I ambled on out to the garden, armed with scissors and a wal-mart bag, joined by my intrigued dad and a continual dusting of light rain. (And in case your mind goes kinda fuzzy when I mention rose hips, these are the beautiful, often colorful berries left after the blooms falls off.) We clipped and picked and filled just the bottom of the bag, and despite my father’s considerable doubts, I did in fact glean enough to make a pint of jam.
And make jam I did! With just two cups of perky, coral-colored “berries” and a ton of sugar. They happen to release the most lovely, subtly strawberry-esque fragrance as they cook. The results were less than spectacular, considering I let them boil too long, but I’ve amended the recipe, positive that your results, should you care to dedicate a couple hours to them, will be positively spectacular.
Rose Hip Jam2 cups rose hips
2 cups sugar
Water
De-stem and clean rose hips with a paring knife, then soak them in about 2 1/2 cups of water for an hour. Boil hips in the same water for 15 minutes to soften them. Remove from heat, strain liquid into another container, and roughly chop the berries. Add them back to the water, stir in the sugar, and set to boil for 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat (even if it seems too liquid!), pour into a jar, and refrigerate.
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