Posted in Keeper of the Home

 The Legend of the Christmas Rose

On their journey to Bethlehem, the Wise Men happened to meet a peasant girl named Madelon.  As Madelon gazed upon their gifts, she was saddened because she had nothing to give to the Savior ~ not even a flower because it was winter.

She noticed the fragrance of a lily and looked up to see an angel, who had heard her sad cries.  The angel waved the lily and made the pathway bloom with Christmas Roses.

Madelon gathered some blooms in her arms and followed the Wise Men.  After the Wise Men had presented their gifts, Mary noticed Madelon standing there and told her to present her gift.

The Holy Child turned and smiled at the peasant girl and when the fingers of JESUS touched the white flowers, they turned pink.

The last rose in my garden bloomed today.  Very late for November but it has been an exceptionally warm Fall.  I felt sad because my roses and flower beds have been so neglected this year with all the yard work and wall building that has been going on.  I take comfort knowing that by the next season the work *should* be complete and I hope to have a beautiful flower garden once again that the hummingbirds will delight in, but for now it remains a work in progress. 

What struck me this year though, was that fact that the rose hips were sooooo big (I guess I usually pull these off).  I thought that this must be the year to try my hand at doing something with them.  Rose hips are soooo expensive at the health food store and they tout of being so good for you.  The size of these and their beautiful orange just encouraged me to try. 

You must wait until after the first frost in order for them to be perfectly ripe and then you can pick them.  They pull off the bush fairly easily and you don't want to wait too long to do this.  If they are deep red to purplish then they are a bit too ripe to use the fleshy fruit and at that point you may need to dry them whole instead.  If they dry on the bush, I am told that they loose their flavor and their vitamins.  Mine seemed to be picked at the perfect time although, I have never really done this before so I'm just guessing LOL. 

At this point, I decided I would like to clean them up and maybe make some rose hip syrup although there are several things you can do to preserve them especially if you have more than a pound or two.  Since I do not have enough to make jelly or much else, I figured syrup would be the best but I have read that they can be frozen at this point and just eaten as a snack or dried and they keep nicely.

The flesh is really wonderful tasting and it is said to be higher in vitamin C than an orange.  My kids tasted & loved the fruit which was a cross between an apple and an orange -- sort of a sweet tangy and the consistency of a firm tomato.  The dog keep trying to steal them from me too but she just likes being weird LOL.

You must scrape the seeds and the itty bitty hairs that are on the inside out.  I gather that they are not bad for you but rather uncomfortable and make some itch.  Those little hairs also don't strain too well after being cooked unless you use a muslin bag strainer which I do not have.  The skin on mine peeled right off while I was cleaning them otherwise you can send them through a sieve to get those bits out after cooking. 

You can not cook them in metal pans or utensils other than stainless steel or you risk discoloration of the fruit and loss of its precious vitamin C stores.  When the supply of oranges dwindled during the World War II, many children picked rosehips (being paid 3 pennies per pound), which were then turned into syrup; gaining prizes for collecting the most fruit and earning badges.  

I can't really give you an exact recipe in that I had a scant 1/2 cup after the hips were cooked down so I really had to fudge on the syrup.  The pulp that is left over after straining, we will add to our yogurt because it still has so much flavor.  If ever I do this again I will gather many more rose hips and I probably will do it like this site suggests:  http://www.jeremytaylor.eu/rosehip_syrup