Rosehip wine brewed at home

I think ‘rose hip wine’ has to be the most adventurous of the foraged wine making I have attempted so far.

The must has now been racked and the cereal-y smell created throughout the fermenting process has now dissipated from the kitchen.

I have been making so much wine over the summer, and am so excited about the new expansion of skills. Currently, I have some Apple and Elderberry wine chugging away merrily in the kitchen, and some frozen elderberries for another Elderberry wine attempt – sweet this time. Oh, so many plans and with autumn closing in already.

So, rosehip wine.

As mentioned in a previous post on cooking with rosehips, I am finding using them unusual due to the high seed to flesh ratio and their irritating hairs. Still, I will not be dissuaded from trying several rosehip recipes while the rosebushes are groaning with them.

Fresh, foraged rosehips ready to wash

I got this recipe from the book Booze by John Wright, number 12 in the River Cottage handbook series.

The rosehips used were the large fleshy ones, I believe they might be from Japanese roses. They’re great, because you can pick a large amount very quickly due to the size of the fruit.

Add rosehips to fermenting bucket

Add a crushed campden tablet

Mashed, pulpy rosehips

The wine is settling to a clear colour after the initial messy must:

Add the yeast

Day one of aerating daily

Day two, the must got more orange

Day three to five

So interested to see how this turns out – it is one that needs to sit for at least a year once bottled and should get better over time!

Related;

Pickled Alexanders

Pickled capsicums and chillis

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