Foraging and gin are like new friends, both of which I’ve embraced over the last year or more!
I walked past a woman in the forest the other day with her bag, rustling through the bushes and we shared a common nod…an acknowledgement that we are not alone; completely normal! I do get the occasional ‘look‘ as I walk past with branches, bags of blackberries or leaves and I get the stab of guilt that I’m raiding the forest of its fruit. But I keep telling myself that this has been done for centuries, that nature is a provider and I’m keeping in touch with the wild.
Saying that, I’ve been on a rosehip fest…I had intended to make a winter syrup to keep the germs away as rosehip is seemingly dense in vitamin C and other immune boosting qualities but instead I settled on gin! Last year I made blackberry, lime and cardamom gin, bottled it up as a Christmas extra and wrapped around a pretty tag for the girls in my family, so this year I thought I’d do the same but try a different flavour…enter the rosehip!
I used the same basis for the recipe but changed the fruit…the flavours were good last year so I reckoned it was a good balance of ingredients.
// 3 cups of rosehips
// 70cl bottle of own brand gin (I used Tescos)
// 1 cup caster sugar
// lemon
Wash your rosehips thoroughly, top and tail them and place them in a sterilised glass container.
Pour over the cup of sugar and mix through carefully using a wooden spoon.
Pour over the bottle of gin and add the cut lemon.
Seal and shake the mixture before placing in a dark place…I push it in to the back of the cupboard. You will need to lift it out and give it a thorough shake every few days – or a least once a week, until you’re ready to bottle it up or drink it!
Leave it for about 8 weeks.
I’m really excited about tasting this one…a new Christmas tipple this year! If you have any other foraging recipes I’d love to hear and maybe try a few more!
