Nyponsoppa with Mandelbiskvier (Swedish rosehip soup with almond macarons)

For the soup:
500g Rosehips
1.5l Water
75g Caster sugar
1Tsp Cornflour

For the biscuits:
100g Flaked almonds
1Tbsp Caster sugar
1 Egg white

To serve:
Creme fraiche

1 Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/Gas 4. Bring a small pan of water to the boil, add the almonds and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Strain the almonds, blitz in a food processor to a paste-like consistency and set aside to cool.
2 Whisk the egg white until light and frothy. Carefully fold in the almond paste and sugar, then pipe the mixture onto a parchment covered baking sheet, keeping the drops about the size of a 1 pence piece. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until firm to the tap, lightly browned on top and golden on the underside. Leave to cool.
3 Life's too short to be picking the seeds out of a colander-ful of Rosehips one by one, so blitz the lot in a food processor and tip into a pan with the water. Bring to a slow boil, simmer for 30 minutes, strain through muslin and return to the pan. Mix the cornflour with a little of the rosehip liquor to make a smooth paste, then slowly stir into the pan, along with the sugar. Simmer for a further 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Serve the soup hot with a dollop of Creme fraiche and a few Mandelbiskvier.

Rose hip and blackberry fizz

I love foraging, but dare emerge from the undergrowth clutching a lumpy looking carrier bag as a young family trundle past on their Sunday cycle – parents’ eyes scan you like you're some kind of woodland dwelling deviant. One thinks of exclaiming, "It’s OK, I'm forager!" at volume, but I fear the outburst would only alarm them further, startling Father into a brier. Better take a large, suspicion quelling basket out from now on, or wear a t shirt with 'NOT A SEX PEST' in caps across the front.

For the rose hip syrup
1kg Rosehips
1kg Sugar
3ltrs Water

Chop the rose hips while you bring half of the water to the boil. Add the hips; wait until it rises to the boil again before taking off the heat and leaving to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain through muslin, squeezing as much liquid out as possible. Tip the pulp back into the pan with the rest of the water; bring to the boil and leave to infuse for a further 15 minutes. Strain as before, add sugar to liquid and boil until the syrup is reduced by half. Pour into sterilized bottles.

For the cocktail
Rosehip syrup
Blackberries
Champagne

Drop a blackberry into the bottom of a champagne flute, cover with rose hip syrup and top up with champagne. Slanche!