Written on 06/08 2012 | rss-feed

Rose Hip Festival in Søndervig again

The world's first rose hip festival was held last year in Søndervig in windy and rainy weather. The unfortunate weather will not stop Søndervig from having another rose hip festival this year! It will be held at Restaurant Sandgaarden in Søndervig on Sunday, 12 August. This year's programme will offer new things as well as repeats of last year's contests and activities.

The Rose Hip Festival to be held on Sunday, 12 August will comprise contests for who can pick the most rose hips in a set time, who can clean the most rose hips in a set time, and who has the best rose hip jam, marmelade, compôt or chutney.

There will also be competitions such as guessing and drawing contests, and a contest about who can make the longest rose hip snake. The record for the longest rose hip snake will be entered in the children's Guiness World Records. The contest entails stringing the most rose hips on a steel wire in a set time. All children under 18 years can compete. If you are interested in competing in one or more of the contests then please sign up by email at post@sondervig.dk or by telephone at +45 97 33 83 99. According to Kurt Kjær, cook and owner of Restaurant Sandgaarden in Søndervig and co-organiser of the Rose Hip Festival, you can win honour, a trophy and gift certificates to Søndervig's shops and restaurants.

Why a rose hip festival?
Holmsland Klit has a lot of rose hips. "This is primarily because the rose hip is a very hardy plant and is therefore often used for shelter and hedgerows in coastal areas with poor soil, such as Holmsland Klit", says Kurt Kjær. "It would be stretching the truth to say that many summer cottage owners like the rose hip plant but that is a bit of a shame because there are plenty of reasons to eat rose hips. The fruits contain lots of vitamins, especially vitamin C. There are actually 1,700-2,000 mg vitamin C per 100 g dried rose hips, which means that a cup of rose hip contains as much vitamin C as 35-40 oranges. Danish rose hips in particular are rich in vitamin C because the colder the climate in which the rose hips grow the more vitamin C the fruits contain", he says.

There are thus many reasons for an excursion in the great outdoors to pick rose hips and then go home and preserve Danish nature's vitamin C in tasty ways for the dark of winter. Kurt Kjær encourages those who are interested to participate in the contest for the rose hip marmelade, jam, compôt or chutney of the year. The homemade products must be delivered at the latest at 1:30 pm on Sunday, 12 August to Restaurant Sandgaarden in Søndervig accompanied by the recipe. At 2:00 pm the judges will taste, evaluate and select the best recipe. After that, EVERYONE present can have a taste.

If you need inspiration to get going, then you are welcome to come to Restaurant Sandgaarden in Søndervig at 10:30 where Kurt Kjær will be cooking and serving taste samples of his legendary rose hip compôt.

At SuperBest in Søndervig there will be taste samples of rose hip ice cream and rose hip bread. Here you will also be able to experience how rose hip snaps is made.

The Rose Hip Festival will end with a special rose hip menu at Restaurant Sandgaarden comprising marinated cod with herbs and rose hip, and rare veal with rose hip relish and summer greens. Rose hip pie with homemade vanilla ice cream and coffee with petits fours can be bought extra.

The complete programme for the Rose Hip Festival in Søndervig can be seen here