Rosehip and Apple Jelly

The autumn foraging has been good this year. Have been picking rosehips from the wild rose bushes over the last few days when out with the dog.

Basics for any fruit jelly are:
- cover fruit with water and simmer until soft
- mash lightly if needed (as is the case for rosehips)
- pour into a jelly/muslin bag hung over a clean bowl and leave to drip overnight. You must NOT prod the mixture or bag otherwise you will not have a clear jelly at the end.
- measure the resulting liquid and put into preserving pan/large saucepan
- for each pint of liquid add 1lb of warmed sugar
- bring to boil, stirring until sugar is totally dissolved
- boil vigorously until set (number of websites that tell you how to test for this. If one of my children don't remember how to do this - shame on you!)
- pot into hot sterilised jam jars and seal (everything you use should be sterilised -again look up tips on this on websites)

For this jelly the quantities of fruit are twice the weight of apples (cooking, crab or dessert) to the weight of rosehips. No need to peel the apples, just chop. I am told, that you can also use fallers - would remove any bruises etc if you do. Rosehips take longer to cook than apples so give them a good 30 minutes of simmering prior to adding the chopped apples. Otherwise follow as above!

This jelly goes well with meat.