I was so witchy today! Made elderberry and rosehip syrups! With my own wildcrafted rosehips and in matching little and big cast iron skillets that Forest and I have.
Man, they taste bad. I mean… the elderberry is sort of okay, but nothing like the smell of the berries as they were simmering… And the rosehip batch from the cast iron is just nasty. I redid the rosehips, another batch in stainless steel, but it is also gnarlygnarlygnarly.
What the fuck? Am I not a witch? Am I not an awesome cook? (If you have not visited my kitchen, I will just go ahead and tell you: Yes. Yes, I am.)
But these syrups suck.
And listen to this bullshit from the website I got the recipe from:
“…most of our giant batch is guzzled by us throughout the winter. It tastes too good to be earmarked solely for the sick bed. Danny loves it stirred into creamy yoghurt or swirled over some home made vanilla ice cream.”
I think if I stirred this into creamy yogurt I would yak.
And on top of that, there is a picture of a bottle of syrup which is glowing, a pure coral-red that screams health, vitality and magic.
Mine is dark brown. Maybe because maybe one in three of the rosehips was red? And the others were all… dark brown? But that same site said “When the hips are softened by November frosts, we make syrup.”
I mean, doesn’t “softened by frost” sort of imply dark brown?
I drowned them both in honey and sugar. Now they taste like nasty brown burnt fruit with sugar.
Hours today. Seriously.
I did enjoy picking the rosehips in the pouring rain though.
Raar.