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Foraging-Fun Recipe: Easy Rosehip Marmalade

12/28/2020

Rosehips are one of the stars of Winter Foraging here in Maine for sure. There are so many ways to enjoy them, from simply drying them for tea, to turning them into cordials & jellies, but Rosehip Marmalade is always at the top of the list in this house! In this post, I will share my super-easy, 4-Ingredient, Pectin-Free recipe & you can see for yourself why! All you need is sugar, 5 oranges, 1 lemon, & rosehips!

Rosehips, for those not familiar with them, are the fruit of the rose plant. Packed with Vitamin C & nutrients, rose hips are valuable commodities. Press them for oil to nourish & brighten the skin. Rosehips are traditionally used to support the immune system, ease arthritis pain, & provide antioxidants. I begin harvesting rosehips after the first frost each year for best flavor. Inevitably, as the birds, deer & other foragers take their share, the available numbers begin to dwindle, although if you are diligent & persistent, you can find usable hips all through the Winter. [as always, be very careful to only harvest from plants that have not been treated with pesticides.]

All roses & their hips are edible, with the smaller hips of wild brair-roses having the strongest flavor. The flavor of rosehips is wonderfully enhanced & complimented by citrus, making them ideal for use in marmalade. The cleaning & preparing of rosehips for use in jelly or marmalade is a labor of love, but worth the effort for the benefits & flavor they provide. I personally find marmalade best crafted with the hips of the gorgeous, wild beach roses [Rosa rugosa] covering the coast here in midcoast Maine. They make enormous, cherry-tomato sized hips, which are much easier to clean & prepare. Again, any rosehips can be used for this recipe; I simply prefer to use the jumbo hips of Rosa rugosa myself. Late December - January, when the Cara Cara oranges arrive & citrus season is in full-swing, is THE time to make this treat.

Wild Briar-Rose hips on the left VS. the enormous hips of the Beach Roses on the right!

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Herbal Spotlight: Bergamot & My Earl Grey Cordial Recipe

12/14/2020

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With its bright, uplifting notes of Bergamot, Earl Grey tea has been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl. Earl Grey is a tea blend which has been flavored with the addition of oil of Bergamot. The rind's fragrant oil is added to black tea to give Earl Grey its unique taste, as well as much of its ‘bounce!’ Bergamot are yellow or green citrus fruit that have been used culinarily & medicinally for centuries. Essential oil of Bergamot, expressed from the peel, has the unique ability to be both calming & uplifting at the same time, & has traditionally been used to help with anxiety & stress.

Image By David Dewitt: thecozycoffee.com/english-breakfast-vs-earl-grey

Photo: extension.umd.edu

Side Note: Despite featuring a very similar scent & flavor, the herb known as Wild Bergamot [Monarda fistulosa] is completely unrelated & is actually part of the mint family -- although it was steeped as tea by colonists missing their Earl Grey here in New England during the Revolutionary War!

I adore the scent of Bergamot as well as the flavor! Indeed, you'll find her in many of our best-sellers, including these items:

Botanical Body Oil, Moss & Fern

Rose Gold Luminous Face Serum

Jasmine Radiance Herbal Mist

Moss & Fern Artisanal Soap

Grey Havens Soap

Moss & Fern Perfume Oil

Botanical Body Oil, BRIGHT

DREAM Matcha Neroli Deluxe Soap

I enjoy the taste of Earl Grey many different ways, but one of my favorites is as a cordial, both on its own & as an ingredient in craft-cocktails. It is very easy to brew up & makes a lovely gift as well! This recipe has two parts: the initial alcohol extraction, & then, weeks later, the tempering & sweetening of your tannin-filled base. Part One should infuse for 2-4 weeks to extract as much flavor as possible.

Bergamot oil is expressed from the green or yellow peel of the fruits.

I highly recommend using loose-leaf tea for this recipe. The leaves within pre-packaged tea-bags are most often pulverized to fine dust & do not hold as much flavor. If you only have bagged on hand, be sure to remove the bags, strings, & staples before brewing, & use a bit more. In this post, I will run through making the cordial, as well as a recipe for a fun craft-cocktail to make with it!

Earl Grey Cordial Part One

Quart Sized Jar with tight sealing lid
6 oz loose-leaf Earl Grey tea [or contents of 5 tea-bags]
Peel of one Orange [or 2 clementines]
Vodka to cover [about 2 cups]

Add your tea leaves to the clean, sterile jar. Peel the orange, cutting your peel into strips to increase surface area. Fill the jar with plain vodka to the top, seal it up, & shake to combine. Be sure all plant & fruit materials are covered by the alcohol. Label the jar with the date & set it aside somewhere out of direct sunlight. Head over & mark your calendar 2-4 weeks out with a reminder to strain it off. The longer you let it steep, the more intense the flavor, but 2 weeks is plenty of time to develop the delicious notes from the botanicals. Feel free to give your jar a shake every few days while it steeps.

Earl Grey Cordial Part Two

Steeped Tea-Vodka Base
2 cups demerara sugar [or honey or xylitol]
2 cups filtered water

Relaxing & Uplifting Cordial

Begin by creating a Simple Syrup to sweeten your base. You can use whatever sweetener you desire in a 1:1 ratio with fresh water. I prefer demerara sugar, but regular refined is perfectly acceptable, or honey, agave, etc. Add the water & sweetener to a saucepan, stirring to completely dissolve. Bring to a full-boil over medium heat, continuing to stir occasionally. Turn heat down & boil for roughly 3 minutes. Set aside to cool. Grab your jar of steeping tea leaves. Double strain the contents into a large pitcher through a fine strainer or jelly bag. Compost the spent leaves & peel. Your Earl Grey vodka will be fragrant & dark, but quite bitter -- strong & unpalatable straight from the jar.

The tannins extracted from the black tea leaves give it that deep, brown color & are extremely bitter on their own. Begin adding your cooled Simple Syrup to the pitcher, stirring it in as you go. I usually start off by adding half my syrup, then tasting to get a baseline. Continue adding & tasting until you get a blend that is just the right balance for your tastes. Most people will find their ‘sweet-spot’ adding all of the simple syrup, while some will like it a bit less sweet. If you add all of your syrup & still feel it is too bitter, or you wish to lower the alcohol content even further, you can add more water. Play with it until you get the perfect balance. Once you mix it up to your taste, decant it into pretty bottles. If you are feeling generous, a bottle of this is a lovely gift to any Earl Grey fan. Set your cordial aside for 24 hours to let the flavors meld together before drinking.

Enjoy a small glass of cordial on its own as the perfect Low alcohol [ABV] end-of-the-day treat. It is also quite lovely to add a splash to a nice cup of Chamomile tea! You can also get creative with it & mix up some fun cocktails! I find it plays well with champagne, gin, & bourbon. I love to include it in a French 75, but am particularly fond of it in the following little number:

The Caterpillar’s Kimono

2 oz Botanically-Forward Gin [such as Hendrick’s]
.5 oz Earl Grey Cordial
.75 oz Chamomile Bar Syrup
Bar Spoon of Lemon Juice
Egg White [optional, but gives phenomenal mouth feel!]
Orange Twist for garnish

Add the gin, cordial, syrup, & lemon juice to a shaker. Fill with ice & shake until well-chilled & combined. Strain into a coupe glass & float the peel to garnish. OR, for a delicious & wicked creamy note & texture, do a dry-shake with the egg white like this: Add the gin, cordial, syrup, & lemon juice to a shaker. Fill with ice & shake until well-chilled & combined. Strain chilled ingredients into an empty shaker, throw out the ice. Add an egg white & dry shake vigorously for 15 seconds. This will create the frothy top & give lovely texture to your drink. Strain carefully into a coupe & float the orange peel on the foam to garnish.

The egg white gives this drink its creamy cap, but it is delicious with or without it.

And there you have it! I hope you enjoy this cordial & the process of making it! Do let me know if you get creative & mix up something fun with it--I love to hear from you all! Until next time--
Take care & STAY SAFE! #StopAndEatTheFlowers

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Du Jardin Learning Center

Foraging-Fun Recipe: Easy Rosehip Marmalade

Herbal Spotlight: Bergamot & My Earl Grey Cordial Recipe

Botanical Body Oil, Moss & Fern

Rose Gold Luminous Face Serum

Jasmine Radiance Herbal Mist

Moss & Fern Artisanal Soap

Grey Havens Soap

Moss & Fern Perfume Oil

Botanical Body Oil, BRIGHT

DREAM Matcha Neroli Deluxe Soap

Earl Grey Cordial Part One

Earl Grey Cordial Part Two

The Caterpillar’s Kimono

why & how: support small & local this season

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Du Jardin Learning Center

Foraging-Fun Recipe: Easy Rosehip Marmalade

Herbal Spotlight: Bergamot & My Earl Grey Cordial Recipe

Botanical Body Oil, Moss & Fern

Rose Gold Luminous Face Serum

Jasmine Radiance Herbal Mist

Moss & Fern Artisanal Soap

Grey Havens Soap

Moss & Fern Perfume Oil

Botanical Body Oil, BRIGHT

DREAM Matcha Neroli Deluxe Soap

Earl Grey Cordial Part One

Earl Grey Cordial Part Two

The Caterpillar’s Kimono

why & how: support small & local this season

Categories

Sign Up Here For Our Newsletter

Author

Archives

Sign Up For Our Newsletter: Recipes,Special Offers, Product Tips

'Beautiful & responsible'

207-563-6256 [email protected] © Du Jardin 2019

Sign Up For Our Newsletter: Recipes,
Special Offers, Product Tips