I thought I’d experiment with adding the raw puree from rosehips into a fruit leather. You can add a ratio of 50% soft tasty fruits to 50% crabapples or hawthorn berries.

Raw rosehips contain about 5 times more Vitamin C for their weight than an orange. If you cook them, the Vitamin C is boiled off. They also taste amazing, like an orange got married to a tomato!

Hawthorn berries help keep the heartbeat steady (especially in cases of cardiac arrhythmia). They are also said to lower blood pressure. They contain pectin, which sets the fruit leather.

Together they make a ninja team!

Rosehip harvesting tip: Pick the soft, faded looking hips. These have been bletted by frost. Squeeze near the plucked end. The puree should come out in a worm or poo like string…don’t let that put you off!!

Don’t use rosehips where runny liquid comes out. These have gone off.

Spot the unavoidable mistake – My son lost my colander, which I use to strain out the haw seeds. So the leather had seeds in it which I now had to pick out.

1cup hawthorn berries

1 cup rosehips

1 medium apple/10 crabapples

sugar/honey to taste

1)Boil the hawthorn berries and chopped up apple in just enough water to cover.

2)Mash it all with a potato masher til it is a puree

3)Strain haw puree through a colander to remove haw seeds.

4)Squeeze the raw puree out of the rosehips. You need plenty of time for this. In front of the TV or with friends is good! MAKE SURE TO LICK YOUR FINGERS, IT’S DAMN GOOD! (Then wash your hands, of course. )

5) Add to the haw puree. Mix, then taste. Add honey or sugar til you think it’s enough.

6) Spread the mixture out of the bottom of a baking pan. Use baking paper if you have it. You want a very thin layer, 2 or 3 mm thick.

7) Heat on top of a stove overnight. Or oven at lowest setting (60C) for around 7 hours. Leave the oven door slightly open. The idea is to dehydrate it, not cook it. Keep checking at around the 5 hour mark.

8) When consistency is like leather to touch, remove from heat and allow to cool. Cut into 3cm wide strips (or flakes if that doesn’t work). Peel off tray/paper.

Fruit leather stores for up to a year in a sealed container. But I’m sure you won’t be keeping it that long before eating it , will you?!

Above is a mixed wild fruit leather I made out of Blackberries, Elderberries, Crabapples and Haws.

CASE NOTE: It takes a while to squeeze enough raw puree out. If your’e short on time, you can boil the rosehips then simmer, puree and sieve them like you do with the Haw berries.

Enjoy your fruit leather!

xx Hedgewitch Kat xx