Hip, hip hurray

The red fruits of wild roses are called hips and are a good source of vitamin C.  

During the Second World War, children were encouraged to pick the rosehips and deliver them to central collection points to be made into rosehip syrup, a substitute for orange juice, when oranges were no longer available

Here is an extract from The Times of 22nd September 1941:

SYRUP FROM ROSE HIPS.

ORGANIZED COLLECTION OF FRUITS.

A national week for the collection of rose hips to be converted into syrup will open next Sunday. The Ministry of Health and the Department of Health for Scotland state that these fruits, which in the past have been allowed to go to waste, are 20 times as rich in Vitamin C as oranges.

The collecting is being organized chiefly through schools, boy scouts, and girl guides, the women’s institutes, and the Scottish womens’ rural institutions. The hips, which must be ripe, can be gathered from wild or cultivated bushes, but they should be free from bits of stems and leaves. Haws, the red berries of May, are not wanted. The picking season extends until the end of October.

The collecting organizations will supply the hips in bulk to firms who have agreed to pay 2s. for 14 lb. (minimum 28 lb.), carriage forward. It is hoped that some 500 tons will be converted into syrup, which will be marketed at a reasonable price.