A staple dish in our family is rose hip soup, which we usually serve only once a year for Christmas. It is a flavorful, spiced, and sweetened soup that works well during the Holidays, but every year I wonder why we are not having it more often. It can be served as an appetizer for a meal, but in recent years we just made a big pot of it and simply ate soup for dinner.

Ingredients

  • 250 g rose hips, seedless
  • 2 liters water
  • Gluehweingewuerz
  • Cinnamon

  • peel of one lemon

  • 2 tablespoon replacement sugar (we use half Splenda / Monkfruit)
  • 2 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
  • 100-150 ml milk/cream mix
  • 1 teaspoon corn starch
  • Gluehweingewuerz

  • juice of one lemon (maybe even a Mayer lemon)

  • dry bread
  • butter
  • salt

Preparing the stock a day early

  • Start with making the rose hip stock: In a pot, bring the rose hips, cinnamon, and a bag of Gluehweingewuerz with the water to boil and simmer for about 30 minutes.

  • Strain the stock into a fresh pot; I usually apply a bit of pressure on the rose hips in the strainer to get all taste out; just be careful since the rose hips are very hot and sticky, and do not overdo it, bitter stuff might come out.

  • Now add the peel of the lemon into the stock and a fresh bag of Gluehweingewuerz. I usually let the stock sit overnight in a fridge or a cool place.

Finishing the soup before eating

  • Remove the spices from the stock, and add the juice of the lemon. Heat the soup stock. Add the sugar/replacement sugar and dissolve; we will add more sugar as needed later on.

  • We are binding the soup - add a little bit of water to the corn starch and stir into the soup, and bring it to a short boil. Then reduce the heat, do not boil the soup from here on anymore.

  • The next step is a bit delicate as we are adding milk into a fairly acidic liquid. Prepare a mug with the milk & cream mixture; the mug should be about 1/3rd full. Slowly add about an equal amount of the soup stock to the mug and mix. Now slowly stir the milk/ soup mixture back into the pot. You should get a rose-colored soup.

  • In the final step adjust the seasoning of the soup. Add some salt and sugar to your taste. Without enough sweetener, the soup does not taste well.

  • Finally, as the soup is done, prepare croutons in a pan. The key ingredients to good croutons are simple:

    • Plenty of butter!
    • Enough salt!
    • Brown the croutons enough to the point where they almost start to blacken. The soup is sweet and we need a counterpoint to that.

Enjoy!