Rosehip syrup and Britain's herbal home front
There is a British herbal story I think is particularly worth retelling here: rosehip syrup, and the national campaign to collect it during the Second World War.
A nation's vitamin C supply replaced by the hedgerow
When it came to citrus fruits, Britain was in a tight spot during the war - and that was because they didn't really grow any of their own, relying mostly on imports to meet the nation's demand for vitamin C-rich produce. The solution to this conundrum was as simple as it was ingenious: a nationwide campaign began, aimed at harvesting the wild rosehips growing in British hedgerows, which were then turned into syrup. This campaign saw the participation of schoolchildren, who were mobilised, along with local communities, in helping to harvest the rosehips and process them. Pickers earned 3d (old pence) per pound of rosehips they collected and brought to designated local drop-off points.
Rosehip syrup, then, was not the work of some peripheral village remedy that the national institutions reluctantly tolerated. This was a treatment that cut through the establishment and became formally adopted as an official public health measure, because the wisdom behind it - that the wild rosehips were a good source of vitamin C - was actually correct. And not only that, rosehip syrup was still used by children's clinics after the war.
What I think this case demonstrates most clearly is that the popular or folk traditions concerning herbal medicine do not necessarily possess the "indigenous" status so often ascribed to them. It was not that the vitamin C content of rosehips had been accepted as folk wisdom, only for it to be inconveniently discredited later. Rather, the traditional knowledge regarding the rosehips was entirely correct and was formally adopted at a national level due to its demonstrated efficacy.
Notes on preparation, if you'd like to take up the challenge yourself
The wild rosehips are typically ready for harvesting in late August through early September, having finished flowering by then, and begun to turn red. If you wish to prepare rosehip syrup yourself, the process is actually fairly simple.
I’m linking a few recipes I found, as I don’t have my own to share (yet?):
- Rosehip syrup - by eatweeds.co.uk
- Make rosehip syrup - by wildishclub.co.uk
- Rosehip syrup - a traditional British wartime recipe - by katharinewrites.com
And as always, be very careful with your foraging – make sure you have the correct plant!
Speak soon,
Lorena