Rosehip Jelly (& Cheesecake cookies!) For Sweet Protection
I still remember the moment when I met Rosa rugosa. It was my family's first time visiting Maine; I must have been around seven or eight years old at the time. The first morning, my mother indoctrinated me into the family ritual that has been a staple of my adult life: going for a walk on the beach first thing in the morning. The Sun was up, but the shadows were still very long, and the air was filled with the standard low-tide smell and something much sweeter.
Something heavenly. Or perhaps something more carnal because it smelled sinfully delicious.
Enter Rosa rugosa, aka the Beach Rose, a mainstay of nearly every beach up and down the coast of New England. Long Sands beach in York, ME, is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, and almost the entirety of it is framed in giant hedges that bloom for months on end. I've since met Rugosa on the shores all over New England, from Lyme, Connecticut, to the National Seashore on Cape Cod, all the way as far North as Boothbay Harbor in Maine. It may be a transplant, but the Rugosa has been living on these shores longer than I've been alive, and its sweet, intoxicating scent reminds many of us of summer, sand, and the sun.
It wasn't until I stayed with a friend on the Cape in 2019 that I became acquainted with its rose hips. My friend J's parents' condo opens directly onto a small seawall that is lined with Rosa Rugosa. It was August, so the flowers were starting to pass, but the bushes were lined with bright red succulent fruit. A few minutes of Googling confirmed what I had thought: roses are edible plants.
Two hours later, I had started my first batch of rose hip jelly, and a new late summer tradition was born.
Rose rugosa Correspondences
Rosa rugosa is one of the mainstay hedge plants of New England. It has stems absolutely coated in thorns, pink and white flowers that bloom all summer and give us the sweetest, heady, intoxicating scent, and large red hips. It is a wild rose and much hardier than standard cultivated varieties; it can withstand salt (including road salt in winter) and thrives on neglect.
For this reason, my main correspondences include Sweetness (lovely flowers and fruit), Aggressive Protection (thorns/hedge characteristics), and Survival (it's a tenacious weed that can be aggressive and even invasive in some areas). These are my own gnosis based upon working closely with this plant over the last six years.
Some of these correspondences will carry over to some other roses, but the more finicky cultivars may be quite different. Note that these correspondences also align well with wild raspberries and blackberries, making them an excellent substitute for these recipes if you don't have access to Rugosa.
Rosa Rugosa Jelly
2-4 cups Rosa Rugosa rose hips, ends trimmed 2-4 tbs. Ball Real Fruit Pectin 1-2 tbs. Bottled Lemon Juice 2-4 Cups White Sugar
Bring rose hips to a boil in 4-6 cups of water, simmer for 1 hour or more until you can mash the rose hips with a fork (use 4 cups for 2 cups of rose hips, six for 4)
Mash rose hips thoroughly and then strain out solids
Combine rose tea, pectin, and lemon juice in a nonreactive pan and bring to a rolling boil, boil for 1 minute
Add in sugar, bring to a roiling boil, boil for 1 minute
pour into containers
This can be water bath canned (check the directions for the size of the ball jar you use for canning jelly), but I usually don't bother because it goes quickly in my house. The high sugar content makes it relatively stable in the fridge, although the flavor may fade over time; it is still good unless mold is visible.
Notes:
To follow this recipe as written, you need to use the pectin listed; if changing brands, follow the directions on the package of the pectin you have
Depending on how many rose hips you start with, your end result of "tea" will vary. Use a ratio of 1 cup of tea to 1 cup of sugar to 1 tbsp pectin. Add more lemon juice if you have more "tea". You can add straight water to bring your volume back to an even cup measurement.
Many recipes call for removing the seeds from the hips before boiling. This is time-consuming, and I don't do this - the jelly tastes amazing without this step.
If you have a small rose bush, you can freeze the hips as they ripen until you have enough to make a full batch of this jelly
Please practice safe harvesting practices if wild harvesting
Now you have a batch of Rugosa jelly, what do you do with it? This jelly tastes great on toast, as part of a charcuterie platter on cheese, or in yogurt. But I have a Sweet Protections cookie recipe for you today! I adapted this recipe by using Rugosa jam instead of raspberry. Because the butter and cream cheese make up the bulk of this recipe, it's great for you gluten-free folks.
Rugosa Jam Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies
1 (8 oz) Stick of Butter, room temperature 4 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature 1/2 Cup White Sugar 1 Cup Flour (I used 1:1 gluten-free blend) Rosehip jam
Cream your butter and cream cheese together until fluffy, and then add sugar, mix until well blended
Add flour in small batches until well incorporated
Cover and cool in the fridge for 1 hour
Preheat oven to 375 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
Working fast, roll the cookies into 1 tbsp. sized balls with your hand and then create an indent in each cookie with your thumb, fill with rosehip jam
Cook for 10-12 minutes until golden brown
These were absolutely divine; they are somewhat reminiscent of buttery shortbread, and the rosehip jelly is sweet enough for this treat without being cloying. I stored mine in the fridge, but truth be told, they were so good that my partner and I ate them in two days.
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