Rosehip Soup or Nyponsoppa

+ This is a guest post by Sarah Galvin of Forest & Fjord Co. Find Sarah on Patreon and Instagram +

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This velvet sweet soup is well known in Sweden, however similar recipes can be found within folk communities across the Northern Hemisphere, and given the season and the fact that the rosehips are perfectly ripe in our meadow I thought I’d share this treat! Hi, I’m Sarah, of Forest & Fjord Collective, a small business sharing wildcrafted fares I started with my partner Skye from our homestead on the coast of Alaska. Here we live as earth based as possible, shepherding our milk goats in the hills, and foraging food and medicine along the way. Spencre invited me to share a wild food recipe on her blog and I figured given my northern locale and her past experience living in Sweden this would be just right. Read on to explore tips for harvesting fresh rosehips on your own to try this recipe, and if that’s not an option for you I also explain how you can do it with dried rosehips too. Enjoy!

As the autumn transitions from rain to frost to snow, as the harvests are brought in, as fires are once again lit in the hearth, and as the deciduous forest edges move from golden leafed to bare, there remains a wild sweet fruit clung to the bramble branches all winter long: rosehips.

Members of the Rosa species, commonly referred to as the Rose, enchant the senses even after the blooms of summer have withered, from the buds the life cycle continues, and the ‘hip’ forms. Rosa subspecices can be found growing wild cirumpolarly, the hips depending on subspecies can range from being round to oval shaped and are ready to harvest once they have grown a ripe red rind. 

I find they are best after a few frosts, as long as the Moose, Bears, and birds don’t eat them all. The cold brings out the sweetness. These wild meadow treats pack a punch of Vitamin C (around 20 times that of citrus) and plenty of vitamins & minerals. They also possess a delicate combination of natural sugars, so if you harvest later they may be slightly fermented which is fine, only if you like it though! The only real things to be mindful of when harvesting is any potential mold, deeply bruised hips or ones that have been torn open are most susceptible, especially if the weather has dipped from freezing to thaw many times & any potential toxins like sprays from pesticides, or roadside exhaust. Where rosehips grow they can be plentiful, just make sure to leave some behind for the wild critters to enjoy as well and then try your hand at some rosehip soup.

Tip: Save yourself processing time in the kitchen and remove the ‘skirt’, the dried and dead plant debris, from the rosehip in the field!

Processing the hips tips: When the rosehips seem goldilocks, just right, I do a big harvest. While in the field I pluck the ‘skirts’ off and when I return home I leave some to dry and some I freeze straight away. I prefer to make the soup from defrosted or fresh hips. 

In the Kitchen


Implements:

※ 2 Sauce Pans

※ Food Processor, Blender, or Mesh Strainer

※ Slotted Spoon

Recipe Ratio:

※ 1 part rosehips, with skirts removed

(if using dried hips get them soaking in water the night before, strain & save water left over to add to ratio of water needed)

※ 1 part water

(For reference: 2 cups each yields around 2 servings depending on rosehip size)

Step 1. Measure rosehips and place into one of the saucepans, measure equal part of water and pour over rosehips. Bring to boil, then down to simmer, and leave covered until rosehips are soft, between 10-30 minutes.

Step 2. Remove from heat and with a slotted spoon fish out the hips and smoosh them into second saucepan (whether by blender food processor, etc). Keep the water they were boiled in within the first saucepan, you’ll use this later. Scoop the puree out of blender,etc and pass through strainer to remove the inner bits of the rosehips from the puree. (I just smoosh the hips directly through a mesh strainer.) 

Step 3. Take the clump of seeds, skins, etc. you separated and put it back into the first saucepan with the original water you used to boil the hips. Heat this up, covered for 5-10 minutes, then strain it one last time into the second saucepan containing the puree. Pay attention the how much water is going into the puree to control consistency, do you want it thicker, thinner? Use more or less water.

Step 4. Reheat if necessary, or serve cold.  Add honey, sugar, spices, sour cream etc, to taste. 

Variation ideas: Add piima cream, Scandinavian sour cream to finished soup. Add cardamom pods and/or anise stars to boiling water in Step 1. Sweeten with herbal honey. Serve warm with grilled cheese. Be traditional and bake a dessert to be served alongside, in Sweden it would be some sort of almond biscuit, or almond slivers. Get creative! 

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I hope you enjoy getting out regardless of the weather to find some rosehips and try this for yourself! To find more of my wildcrafted work check out my website at forestandfjord.com, there I share snapshots of life in the north on my blog & foraged self care products on my webshop made from the fjords and forests of my home. You can also find me on Patreon sharing recipes, monthly lunar & seasonal infused rituals, as well as super limited edition folk herbalist wares from the wilds of Alaska to build your home apothecary.