Rose hip purée – made from pure fruit

Rosehip purée without added sugar, deep red and tart

Rosehip purée is the strained flesh of the rosehip, unsweetened and consisting of nothing but fruit; it contains naturally occurring sugar. This is not jelly or a spread made with gelling sugar, but a thick, creamy purée in which the juice remains with the fruit. In Franconia, it is used to fill doughnuts; in Sweden, it is made into soup.

The rosehip purée from the Antonio Viani range consists of a single ingredient: rosehips. It comes unsweetened in a 290-gram jar and contains naturally occurring sugar, 14 grams per 100 grams. Its consistency in the jar varies from batch to batch, depending on how ripe the fruit was in the autumn.

The fruit of the dog rose after the first frost

Botanically speaking, the rosehip is not a berry, but an aggregate fruit. What shines red and fleshy is the swollen receptacle, while the actual fruits are the small nutlets inside.

The largest part of the harvest is provided by the dog rose, Rosa canina, whose fruits ripen in October and November. After the first frost, they become soft and significantly sweeter as starch is converted into sugar. This is exactly the state that makes them suitable for straining, whereas early-picked rosehips remain firm and brittle.

Inside, the nutlets are nestled in a fuzz of fine, barbed hairs, which children have used for generations to make itching powder. These must be completely removed before the fruit can become a purée. The seeds and hairs are left behind in the sieve, the pulp passes through, and the juice is not separated.

This is precisely the difference between purée, juice, and jelly: in a purée, the entire edible part of the fruit stays together; nothing is removed, nothing is clarified. That is why it sits thick in the jar and tastes like the whole fruit rather than an extract.

Franconian doughnuts, Swedish soup, sauce for duck

In the jar, the purée is deep red and dense; on the palate, it is tart and acidic with a dark sweetness underneath that is reminiscent of rosehip tea, only thickened and far more concentrated.

In Franconia, it is called "Hiffenmark" and is the classic filling for doughnuts (Krapfen), while in Swabia, it is known as "Hägenmark". In Sweden, it is used to make Nyponsoppa, a rosehip soup served hot or cold, with almond biscuits or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Both traditions thrive on that same acidity.

The purée is just as capable in savory dishes: as a sauce for duck breast or saddle of hare wrapped in Savoy cabbage, stirred into soup with ginger and carrots, or added by the spoonful to salad dressing. For those avoiding tomatoes, it can be used much like tomato purée. Once opened, the jar should be kept in the refrigerator.

The purée contains naturally occurring sugar, but because there is no added sugar to counteract it, it is significantly more acidic than a sweetened spread. On breakfast toast, it might benefit from a layer of butter or quark underneath, but in cake batter and dark sauces, it really plays to its strengths.

Four fruits from Viani’s own brand

The rosehip purée belongs to a small series that Antonio Viani offers under its own brand: four fruits, each puréed individually, each in a 290-gram jar.

In addition to the rosehip, the shelf includes elderberry purée, sea buckthorn purée, and quince, each made from a single fruit. More from this range can be found under Compotes and Preserves.

This series was compiled by the delicatessen Antonio Viani Importe, which searches for artisanal producers all over Europe. You can find the entire range in the collection Antonio Viani Importe. Tart, deep red, made of nothing but fruit.