Rosehip Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce
An expected part of the Thanksgiving table is that sweet, tart, pop of color- I’m talking, of course, of cranberry sauce! Personally, canned is not really an option for me as homemade is SO MUCH BETTER. Just not even comparable really. But this year I’m elevating it even further, by adding rosehips to my Thanksgiving cranberry sauce. It adds another layer of flavor, with a bit of floral, tart, almost apple-like, hibiscus-adjacent flavor. A perfect match for the cranberry, rosehips won’t over power the cranberry sauce, but will add a delightful, subtle bit of something extra. Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!
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Disclaimer- use caution when foraging wild edibles, and always be certain of your identification. While I assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided on this site, I can’t be responsible for the accuracy of your information. Consult multiple websites, books and local experts, and when it doubt, do without.
How to Forage for Rosehips
Every rose has it’s thorn, but on a tastier and more optimistic note every rose also has rosehips. While flower of the rose plant is perhaps most known, the hips are the fruit of the rose, and they grow after the flowers have bloomed, generally in the fall. There are over 300 varieties of rose, some cultivated and some that grow wild. One great reason to stick to wild roses, is they are unlikely to have been sprayed with pesticides. In case you were wondering (as I was), both rosehip and rose hip are correct.
Wild roses grow all over the world, on the trailside, woods, thickets and more. I picked mine along the cliffsides overlooking the ocean. Cultivated roses grow wherever people plant them, although if the flowers were picked the hips will not form. The hips form after the flowers have fallen from the plant, and can stay on the plants from Autumn into the winter- they are perfectly good to pick in the winter, but you may find animals eat them before you get to. If you need help identifying roses and rose plants, you can check out this guide. Rosehips are generally orange-red, and vary from small to larger, oval to globular. Rosehips get sweeter as they sit on the plant, and tend to have a good boost in sugar after a frost or two. Honestly, in this recipe I think the tartness is perfectly lovely so I wouldn’t worry about getting sweeter hips. I always go for the hips that are blemish free, large, red, and firm.
Fun fact- rosehips are renowned for their vitamin C content. While they aren’t commonly consumed in the United States, they have been utilized more other places in the world. During World War 2, they were harvested and distributed across Britain when citrus was scarce, to help keep their citizens and children healthy. Depending on the rosehip variety, they have 20-50 times as much vitamin C as an orange, in equal weight (although you are unlikely to eat as much rosehip as you would orange).
Looking for Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes? Try one of these!
- Maitake and Wild Rice Thanksgiving Salad
- Stuffed Seitan Vegan Holiday Roast
- Holiday Baked Vegan Cheese with Guava Swirl
- Eggplant, Chestnut, and Mushroom Vegan Holiday Loaf
- Cranberry Lima Bean Thanksgiving Salad
- Simple Homemade Vegan Pumpkin Ravioli
- Vegan Stuffing with Mushrooms and Apples
- Wild Rice, Chili and Cacao Nib Stuffed Acorn Squash
- Avocado Mashed Potatoes with Porcini Gravy
- Indian-Spiced Vegan Warm Pumpkin Salad
- Vegan Pumpkin Pie Spice Granola
- Pumpkin, Pecan and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
- Savory Herbed Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
- Easy Vegan German Apple Cake
- Vegan Cornbread with Roasted Tomatoes
How to Make Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce with Rosehips
To make this cranberry sauce, we first make a rosehip tea so that we’re able to bring that tart and sweet rose flavor into the sauce. To clean your rosehips, you can just rinse them under cool water and trim off the dried bud end. The size of the rosehips you’ve picked will change the number you need- you want about 2 cups, which was roughly 40 of the large rosehips I foraged. Boil the rosehips in water to make your tea, and then strain the liquids from the solids.
The rosehip tea is added to the cranberries, sugar, orange juice and salt. All of that is cooked up, until the cranberries start bursting, the sugar becomes syrupy, and the whole mixture starts to thicken. If you like a more sauce-like cranberry sauce, cook it for a shorter amount of time. If you like a more jelly-like cranberry sauce, cook it for longer. After you let it cool for a while, you can move it over to the fridge to totally set. The nice thing about this sauce is it stays good for quite a while, so if you’re making it for Thanksgiving, you can make it the week ahead of time if you like. That way you have one less thing to get done when you’re trying to throw an elaborate meal together in a normal-sized kitchen.
Rosehip Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups (220g.) large rosehips, bud-end removed
- 1 cup sugar
- 12 oz. fresh or frozen cranberries
- ½ orange
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Combine the rosehips with two cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, and simmer for 20 minutes. Use a metal strainer or a cheesecloth to strain the liquids from the solids, reserve the liquid, and compost the solids.
- Combine the rosehip tea, sugar, juice of half an orange, and salt back in your skillet. Bring to a boil, and cook until the cranberries pop, at least 10 minutes. Let cool, and transfer to a serving container (or a leftover container, if not serving that day). Store covered in the fridge until totally cooled, and then serve. This sauce can be made several days in advance.
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