Central Otago Rose-Hip

#350 Do - Head for the hills in Central Otago for wild rose-hip. With autumn now here, the hills are full of this prickly bush with it's bright red berries. Rose-hip syrup was given to children during WW2 for vitamin C when oranges and lemons were scarce and expensive. Articles mention people making pocket money picking it for factories in Dunedin producing the syrup during that time. I found a recipe for the syrup in the 1944 Lake Wakatip Mail (on Papers Past) or you can try rose-hip cordial by NZ company Aroha as they source their wild rose-hip from Central Otago. I found oodles of these bushes up by the Alexandra Lookout, a great view with lots of tracks around and rose-hip bushes by the dozen!

#freshproduce #history #roadtrip