By Ariana Mullins, contributing writer
It’s a great time of year to collect rosehips so we can make this fermented rosehip soda recipe.
They are all over the place here in England, where my family is living at the moment. Rosehips are popular wild sources of vitamin C, have numerous herbal benefits, and they have a really nice flavor.
The problem with rosehips is that they can be a bit hard to work with, because they have hairs inside with the seeds. So I am always looking for uses that work with whole rosehips. This fermented rosehip soda recipe is perfect and very low-maintenance. You just boil the hips for flavor, and strain them out.
I love to brew my own ciders and wines, but it’s really nice to have something quick and kid-friendly on-hand, too. This is a great way to use foraged herbs, flowers and berries. You can use this method for any fruit, really, and it’s very similar to my method for making fermented rhubarb & honey soda.
Fermented Rosehip Soda Recipe
Ingredients
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- 3 cups fresh rosehips, with the stems and ends removed
- 3/4 cup raw honey (where to buy) or sugar, such as brown sugar or sucanat, works too
- Some kind of culture– you can use sauerkraut juice or whey from strained yogurt– you only need a tablespoon or two
- A demijohn (where to buy)
- Airlock (where to buy)
- Funnel (where to buy)
- Swing-top bottles (where to buy)
Instructions
- Put the rosehips into a pot, and add 8 cups of water. Bring to a simmer.
- Simmer for about 30 minutes over low heat, then cool. I have left mine overnight before, but you don’t need to.
- Strain out the rosehips.
- Add the honey or sugar and stir until dissolved. (You can also just save this as rosehip syrup! This is a nice way to make another batch later– you can freeze, then dilute when you want to make another batch, quickly. Dilute the syrup with water to get a good juice flavor and consistency.)
- Pour the “juice” into a sterilized or very clean demijohn, pour in your whey or sauerkraut juice and add your airlock. (I have a small swing-top container that I used for making a smaller batch than usual. An airlock fits in the top. Some people have had success with putting a balloon over the top of the demijohn with a pin hole in the top to mimic an airlock. Worth a try in a pinch!)
- Let it sit for about three days, and taste it. Mine fermented pretty quickly, but there are some variables– the temperature of the room, the strength of the culture you used, etc. Taste it and let it ferment until it’s only a little sweeter than you would like it to be.
- Pour it into your swing-top bottles, and store in the fridge. (The type of bottle is important, as they allow the ferment to give off some small amounts of Co2 and won’t explode.) You could leave them out at room temperature if you’d like to drink them sooner, but I usually pop them into the fridge to slow down the fermentation process.
- You will want to drink this rosehip soda recipe within a few weeks, or risk losing most of your Rosehip Soda to the “geyser effect.” If you’re storing it for a while, I’d just check in now and then to see what kind of pressure is building up. Your beverage will get drier, more tart and fizzier the longer you wait. It will eventually develop more of an alcohol content, too, so you might want to taste it before giving it to your kids if you’ve been storing it for a while! Enjoy!
How to Make Fermented Rosehip Soda
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh rosehips, with the stems and ends removed
- 3/4 cup raw honey (like this) or sugar, such as brown sugar or sucanat, works too
- Some kind of culture– you can use sauerkraut juice or whey from strained yogurt– you only need a tablespoon or two
- A demijohn (like this)
- Airlock (like this)
- Funnel (like this)
- Swing-top bottles (like this)
Instructions
- Put the rosehips into a pot, and add 8 cups of water. Bring to a simmer.
- Simmer for about 30 minutes over low heat, then cool. I have left mine overnight before, but you don’t need to.
- Strain out the rosehips.
- Add the honey or sugar and stir until dissolved. (You can also just save this as rosehip syrup! This is a nice way to make another batch later– you can freeze, then dilute when you want to make another batch, quickly. Dilute the syrup with water to get a good juice flavor and consistency.)
- Pour the “juice” into a sterilized or very clean demijohn, pour in your whey or sauerkraut juice and add your airlock. (I have a small swing-top container that I used for making a smaller batch than usual. An airlock fits in the top. Some people have had success with putting a balloon over the top of the demijohn with a pin hole in the top to mimic an airlock. Worth a try in a pinch!)
- Let it sit for about three days, and taste it. Mine fermented pretty quickly, but there are some variables– the temperature of the room, the strength of the culture you used, etc. Taste it and let it ferment until it’s only a little sweeter than you would like it to be.
- Pour it into your swing-top bottles, and store in the fridge. (The type of bottle is important, as they allow the ferment to give off some small amounts of Co2 and won’t explode.) You could leave them out at room temperature if you’d like to drink them sooner, but I usually pop them into the fridge to slow down the fermentation process.
- You will want to drink them within a few weeks, or risk losing most of your Rosehip Soda to the “geyser effect.” If you’re storing it for a while, I’d just check in now and then to see what kind of pressure is building up. Your beverage will get drier, more tart and fizzier the longer you wait. It will eventually develop more of an alcohol content, too, so you might want to taste it before giving it to your kids if you’ve been storing it for a while! Enjoy!
Love this Rosehip Soda Recipe? Check Out These Other Delicious Beverage Recipes:
- Homemade Fruit Slushies with Herbs
- Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate Recipe
- Chai Tea Concentrate Recipe
- Homemade Eggnog Recipe
About Ariana Mullins
Ariana Mullins is an American writer, cook, explorer and photographer. She shares her family’s stories of challenge and adventure as expats in Europe, as well as inspiration for living a simple and meaningful life at And Here We Are… She has a passion for restoring lost kitchen arts and loves to share her experiences in foraging, butchery, home brewing and anything new she can get her hands on in her English kitchen. Connect with her on andhereweare.net, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Kati says
October 30, 2014 at 10:05 amThank you for sharing! I would love to do this with some of our wild berries as a special treat for my kiddos! Where do you purchase the swing top bottles with an airlock?
Ariana {And Here We Are...} says
October 31, 2014 at 3:12 pmHi Katy,
I do hope you’ll try it! I also have a recipe for blackberry soda that you may want to check out: http://andhereweare.net/2014/04/fermented-blackberry-soda.html/
And these are the bottles I recommend: http://amzn.to/10OoJu9
Amy says
November 2, 2014 at 7:01 pmOh, this does look yummy! We have lots of wild rose hips in the ditches near our house–this gives me a great excuse to get out and go for a walk and gather some. Is there any substitute for the whey? Can I just take traditional (plain) yogurt and strain it to get some?
Ariana {And Here We Are...} says
November 3, 2014 at 3:36 amHi Amy! Yes, you can just strain the whey from some yogurt (commercial or homemade,) or you can use a little homemade sauerkraut juice.
Mary says
November 3, 2014 at 6:50 amI do not drink alcohol as a preference of faith. If I make this and drink it relatively early will it still have a tendency to be alcoholic like kamboucha (even it has like a tiny percent of alcohol)?
I eat sourdough as the alcohol present evaporates or is cooked off, and I do pickle lots of stuff….. would it be similar in this drink?
Thanks for the recipe
Ariana {And Here We Are...} says
November 4, 2014 at 7:19 amHi Mary, good question. I am inclined to say that, no, it will not be alcoholic if drunk early. Most of the drinks that develop a small amount of alcohol are left for more than a week. That said, I am not a scientist and I have no real way of knowing for sure, as I haven’t used a hydrometer with these sodas. I’m sorry I can’t give you a 100% positive answer, but that is my best guess.
kaye winn says
November 3, 2014 at 7:06 amcan you can the rose hip syrup instead of freezing it till your ready to use it. ? kaye
Ariana {And Here We Are...} says
November 3, 2014 at 12:30 pmKaye, yes– absolutely!
Peter Mengos says
August 24, 2016 at 2:15 pmThanks for the guide.
Victoria says
August 30, 2016 at 4:30 amI know this post is relatively old, but I’m hoping you’ll still be able to answer my question. I’ve just moved to an area with tons of wild rosehips and I’m excited to try the new recipes I’ve found, like this one. I read somewhere, though, that you should only harvest them after the first frost as it causes them to get much sweeter. Do you know if that’s necessary with this recipe? I’m impatient and want to try making this now!
Billy says
June 7, 2017 at 3:13 pmI’ve never actually tried (or heard of..) rosehips before. I love that there is probably such a wide variety of fruits and veggies I’ve never made use of in my daily life! What kind of flavor can you compare the rosehips to? I really want to give this a try now simply to cure my curiosity for what the rosehips are like. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
★★★★★
Rosanna Smith says
August 21, 2017 at 7:29 pmHi,
The seeds are ok to use when making soda
Thank you