Rose Hip Jelly

From The Essential Herbal Magazine Nov/Dec '11

Pure Rose Hip Jelly Recipe

by Twyla DiGangi


Rose hips are the ‘fruit’ of the rose plant. They appear late in the summer and stay on the bush the entire winter.

Wild roses (Rosa spp.) have been used for a wide variety of uses through the ages. The entire plant is both medicinal as well as a natural source of food. The petals can be added to salads, or eaten on their own as a trail snack. The petals also make a nice natural band-aid for minor cuts when camping or hiking. The root is used to treat diarrhea, flu, dysentery, and worms. Decoction of the root and leaves makes a wonderful cleanser for your system. The entire plant can be used as a wash for wounds and injuries. Roses and the hips are high in vitamin C, E, B, and K as well as a good source of beta-carotene. This makes them a very nourishing meal that is highly nutritious. The spring shoots can be stripped and eaten raw.

Medicinal Uses of Rose Hips
During World War II importing oranges became impossible for a lot of different countries. British soldiers would gather rose hips by the hundreds because of their high vitamin C content. They would make syrups and jellies to keep away scurvy. Three rose hips have the same vitamin C content as one large orange.
The seeds of the rose hips were sometimes cooked by some native groups. They were then used to treat muscular pain. The fibers in the seeds have been known to irritate the digestive tract. They also have a cyanide-like compound that is destroyed by drying or cooking, making the rose hips safe for consumption.

Using Rose Hips for Food
Rose hips can be added to stews, teas, made into pemmican, jams, and jellies. It is better to collect rose hips after the first frost. This makes them even sweeter as well and softens them a bit. Collect on a sunny day after the morning dew has evaporated.  Make sure to cook or dehydrate rose hips before eating them.

Recipe for Pure Rose Hip Jelly

You can collect rose hips even in the middle of winter to make jelly all winter long. Take extra care if harvesting in the winter and dress for the cold weather. The rose hips will be very soft after you get them home and they begin to thaw out.  Always make sure that the plants haven’t been sprayed with pesticides.


16 cups (4 quarts) ripe rose hips
8 cups (2 quarts) water
2 packages of pectin powder
5 cups of sugar
½ cup lemon juice
½ teaspoon margarine (optional, will reduce foaming of the jelly)

After you have cleaned your rose hips and removed the tops put them in a large stainless steel pot. Pour the water over them and bring to a simmer. Let them simmer until soft. It will take about an hour. Remove from heat and with a potato masher mash the rose hips up a bit. Strain it all through a jelly bag or large piece of cheesecloth until you get 4 cups of rose hip juice.

In pot add rose hip juice, lemon juice, the two packages of pectin and the margarine. Stir until well combined and bring to a boil. Add your sugar and mix well. Return mixture to a boil that can’t be stirred down. Stir constantly for one minute and then remove from heat.

Ladle into sterilized jars. If you are going to process the jelly in a water bath canner process for 10 minutes. Let the jars sit for 24 hours without disturbing them. Label and put your jelly away.

This jelly is filled with vitamin C making it a healing agent to help boost the immune system, as well as a nutritious jelly for sandwiches or toast.

"Parts" in a Recipe?

Measuring in “Parts”

Tina Sams

The Essential Herbal, Sept/Oct '10

Often people have a difficult time converting recipes from “parts” into a more familiar standard of measurement.  Once it is understood, it is a very freeing way of communicating a recipe.  I generally assume that parts refers to measurement by volume, but it can also refer to weight in some cases.

Let’s take a recipe for an herbal tea blend:

2 parts chamomile

1 part raspberry leaf

½ part peppermint

If we exchange the word part(s) with cup(s), the recipe would translate to:

2 cups chamomile

1 cup raspberry leaf

½ cup peppermint

But perhaps we would like to only make a small amount in order to see if we like it.  In that case, we could exchange part(s) for teaspoon(s), translating to:

2 t chamomile

1 t raspberry leaf

½ t peppermint

In this way, a part can be any type of container which is then used as a unit of measurement.  Shot glass, Dixie cup, quart deli container, gallon, 5 gal bucket, bushel, barrel, truckload  – anything at all!

This works for dried herbs, liquids, and just about anything that one would like to blend.

In the recipe given above, exchanging “part” for “pound” (or other weight unit) is not appropriate because a pound of peppermint is smaller in volume than the chamomile or raspberry leaf.  When we create a formula that we intent to use parts by weight, we note that specifically when writing the recipe down.

New! Elderberry e-book!

 An Elder Gathering

What do you get when you gather 6 herb women with a combined experience of nearly 150 years?  A lot of great information, that's what!

For the last month, we've been working together, choosing recipes, sharing methods, and thinking about how much we love elderflowers and berries, and even learning from each other.  We're very happy with the results.  Condensed into 40 pages, the e-book is available for just $5.
Purchase it today and use the information and recipes for your elderberries right now!
Link to purchase:    http://www.essentialherbal.com/category/BOOKS-DVDS-3

Pineapple core - dried

Over the past few months, I have been eating pineapple a lot.  It started when we dropped grains and sugar from our diet here.  It's always easier to take something away if it is replaced with more variety in what will become regular.  So instead of starchy, sugary snack-y stuff, I chose some fruits and foods that wouldn't typically have been affordable.  It's was a good trade-off, and fresh pineapples landed on the counter at least once a week.
A happy side effect came from the bromelain, an enzyme that decreases inflammation.  People often notice relief from joint pain and arthritis when taking bromelain, and that was true for me too.  I also noticed another side effect in the easing of gastro-intestinal symptoms I've been working on through diet.  The core has more bromelain than the fleshy fruit portion, and it seems like there has to be a way to preserve them. 
I have chopped up a couple of cores and have them soaking in vodka.  Pulling a slice out one evening in an attempt to stave off stomach problems worked, but woo boy - very potent to chew.
Today I decided to dry the core in the oven.
 

 

  First I sliced it very finely into small pieces, and laid them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet.
They went into the oven on the lowest setting (Warm) and I left to do some work for a few hours.
When I returned, they were done. 
They taste just like small pieces of pineapple flavored candy.
Never again will a pineapple core go to waste!  These would be worth drying even if it was just for the deliciousness, never mind the health benefits.

To fix things, or not

I spend a lot of time thinking about how connected everyone is these days.  Not necessarily to each other, but to devices of communication.  Even in my own home, there are times when several people are "together", but some of them will be engaged in a conversation of texts or emails while attempting to be present.
The thing that has really made me think about it a lot lately is the fact that a storm knocked out the answering machine on my phone a couple of months ago.  I don't use a cell phone unless traveling, so at least when outside I am free.
At first, I mentally planned how to fix it and it would seriously take about 3 minutes of wire wrangling, yet it hasn't happened yet.  "Oh no!" I thought, "How will people leave a message?"  And still I don't fix it.
I get a little guff now and then for not having a telephone number on the web site.  We're 11 years in, and email has worked out pretty well so far.  The typical business-like reasons are that I am not available during regular hours, not willing to handle phone calls at all hours, and at one time there was a teenager with an unpredictable attitude.  Perhaps anymore, the fact is that I just can't think on my feet anymore.  I'm USED to being able to give responses some thought, look on the calendar, check back on prior communications, or whatever it might take to sound like the system here (and my mind) is intact.
Throughout my childhood, well into adolescence, my mother was bound to the front portion of our home 24/7.  Extensions from over 40 businesses rang on a switchboard, and she took messages for all of them.  She tracked down doctors, got emergency fuel deliveries taken care of, and pretty much juggled the problems of 100's of people a day.  She rarely ventured outside, even after an outdoor ringer was installed.  It wasn't worth the hassle.  I started helping out with the phones at the age of nine.  Really.  Later, after that was sold and she went to work for someone else, at 14 I went to work on a bigger answering service with over 200 businesses, a few police departments, an alarm company, a Western Union office, and the first FAX line in the county.  2 people worked at a time, and it was ... um... fun.  Afterwards I went on to be a police dispatcher with the county, where I learned the true meaning of the word emergency, and also how very many of them occur during an 8 hour shift.
So over the course of the last couple of months, I've realized the reason for my resistance to doing anything about the fried message machine.  It is so much easier.  There are probably fewer people who remember than those who don't, but there was a time when you could be alone.  At one time, if the phone rang and nobody answered, that was that.  No messages.  No guilt about getting back to anyone.  The caller could try later, or go ahead and live their life, perhaps checking in the next day.  You could go on a hike and never talk to anyone except the person physically walking beside you, or maybe your dog. 
Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I'll probably fix the phone in a few days.  But always, I'm easier to reach by email :-)

Mid-Autumn Fruit Splurge

This year, the fig tree has grown large enough to be supplying me with a bounty that is finally pushing me to try different things with them, rather than simply plucking them off the tree and eating them while standing in the yard.  They are full of so many good things.  Fiber, potassium, vitamin K, calcium and iron, for starters. 
Earlier this year, I found a recipe for Vanilla Fig Bars and waited patiently.  I made it the other night and it was very good (I added a touch of honey from my friend Zan's bees).  The only thing is, I can never just leave a recipe alone.  Eating one of those bars, I kept thinking how good that chock-full of health cookie base of almonds, coconut and figs would be used as a crust for a tart of some sort.
And so today, in order to step away from some of the less than savory bits of news coming across the computer, it became a reality.  No eggs, dairy, or grains used.  No baking.  Just perfection.

The recipe for the fruit topping was just a conglomeration of what happens to be on my counter at the moment:
1 cup of fresh ripe elderberries
1 cup sweet ripe figs
1 large juicy peach
about a tablespoon of grated ginger
3 tablespoons of rich, dark honey
1/4 cup sugar
These were all set to simmer until it became a luscious, bubbling, fragrant mass - about 15 minutes .

In the meantime, I put together the crust.  Using fresh figs with the coconut and almond makes the whole thing turn out looking just a little bit more like ham salad than I'd like, but that fades a bit as it sets up.  It holds together exceptionally well.

At the very last minute, I added about 1/4 cup of coconut flour to the fruit mixture, just to help it thicken.  It was taken off the heat for 10 minutes, and then spread over the crust.  It is wonderful!  Absolutely delicious, and while it is nowhere near low-calorie, it is full of things that are good for us.

I suspect my daughter will top it off with a dollop of yogurt with a smidge of honey.

The Essential Herbal Sept/Oct '12

 We've been a little absent on the blog lately, but it isn't for lack of activity!  All kinds of busy here on the farm, with harvesting, preserving, maintaining, and of course the magazine and soap businesses keeping us stepping.
The Sept/Oct '12 issue is headed out to subscribers now, and should be arriving in the next 2 weeks.  If you'd like to join in the fun, subscribe!  We've got plenty.  Not sure?  Click on the free issue along the right sidebar of this blog and check it out without risk. 
Here's what you'll find in the current issue:

Field Notes

During childhood, we establish our relationship with nature. Are we still playing and sharing that with the kids in our lives?

Herbal Connections, Winter Herbs, Marita A Orr

Getting our herbs lined up for the winter ahead, Marita shares her favorites and methods for use.

Grooming & Pruning Herb Plants, Michele Brown

The Herbfarmer gives advice for keeping our herbs in good shape to face the weather ahead so that they’ll be ready to spring into action as soon as the warmth and light return.

Seasonal Support, Suzan T Scholl

Lots of great herbs to have on hand, and now is the time to gather them.

From the Vault, Secrets of the Scented Bead, Carol Huettner

You may be very surprised to learn how myrrh beads and aromatic amber resin are created. It probably isn’t anything like what you expected.

Medicinal Vinegar Tinctures, Marci Lautanen-Raleigh

Alcohol-free medicinal herbal extracts in a base that is good for you? Read on!

SouthRidge Treasures, Pesto, Mary Ellen Wilcox

Look out basil, Mary Ellen is taking pesto far beyond the usual.

Mullein the Great, Marci Tsohonis

This common roadside weed has so much to offer. Like so many plants that we pass daily, it is worth a much closer look.

Autumn Magic, Heddy Johannsen

Welcome the season by celebrating the offerings of nature in the kitchen. Cider making without a press? Hmmm…

Oatmeal—Food as Medicine, TEH Compilation

We know about oatstraw and milky oatseeds as herbal preparations, but sometimes forget that it can be much simpler and we can incorporate the same benefits in delicious every day dishes.

How to Dehydrate Lemons, Delores Harris

Dehydrated citrus can be utilized in many ways over the holidays. Great instructions for excellent results.

Pumpkin, TEH Compilation

Is it the pumpkin, the spice combination, the delicious health benefits of deep orange foods, or the seasonal connection? All of the above? We love pumpkin in just about everything.

Take Three Weeds, Sharon Wolfe Topsick

Teachings from an elder.

What is an Herbalist, Jackie Johnson, ND

Do you ever wonder about this title and what it means?

Herban Legends, Rita Richardson

Old wives’ tales? Maybe, maybe not, but interesting either way.

 

We're sure you're going to love this issue as much as we do.