Rose Hips: Tips & Recipes

Wild Rose Hips: Rose hips are a very rich source of Vitamin C and are free for the picking. Three average rose hips have as much Vitamin C as a medium-sized orange.

Collecting Rose Hips: Pick only the ripe berries that are vivid red and slightly soft. They have a much better flavor if picked after the first frost…preferably late August, September or October. You can harvest them from your garden roses, but they’re more plentiful from old-time shrub roses like rugosas and wild rose bushes.

What Is A Rose Hip? A rose hip is the fruit of the rose plant, it is filled with tiny seeds and covered with silky hairs. The food value is found in the skin of the hip and is similar to the taste of an apple.

To encourage your roses to develop rose hips, don’t trim the rose blossoms and leave them to naturally fade and fall.

The Use Of Rose Hips: Rose Hips can be used fresh in making jelly, jam, pickles, juice, etc., or they can be dried or canned to be used in the winter, or served raw, shredded or halved in salads, sandwich fillings and desserts. Dried rose hips are also a favorite in teas and homemade potpourri.

• Important: Before using rose hips as a food source, make sure the plant you’re harvesting from has not been treated with pesticides or chemicals.

How To Dry Rose Hips

Collect quantities of rose hips or berries to be dried or made into teas, jellies, juice, pickles, etc., for winter use.

Drying the hips is very easy and similar to air drying flowers, follow these directions:

• Sort out imperfect rose hips and rinse the batch. Carefully pat dry.
• Line a cookie sheet with a screen, or a sheet of cardboard, or parchment or wax paper and spread the dry rose hips across in a single layer.
• Leave them to dry in a dark, well ventilated area for a few weeks, they’ll be ready when they are hard, wrinkly and darker in color.
• You can also dry them in the oven on the lowest setting or use a dehydrator.

You can dry the hips whole or you can cut and seed first (directions below). If mainly using dried rose hips for teas, drying them whole is fine.

Tips: To remove the hairs from dried hips, grind them up a bit in the food processor (once they’re dried) then shake the batch in a sieve, the hairs will fall loose. After hips have dried, stems and ends can be removed easily by plucking them off.

Storage: Seal in airtight containers or glass jars, store away from direct light.

Rose Hip Recipes

There is some loss of Vitamin C if there is a lengthy delay between picking and bottling the product although one of their important advantages as a source of Vitamin C is the unusual stability of this Vitamin in rose hips as compared with other Vitamin C foods.

• Tip: Avoid using aluminum cookware and utensils when preparing rose hips as it can deteriorate the Vitamin C in the hips.

How To Make Rose Hip Tea

• Fresh Hips: 1 to 2 TBS rose hips per cup of boiling water, steep for 10 minutes.
• Dried Hips: 2 tsp per cup of boiling water, steep for 10 to 15 minutes.

Tip: Don’t throw out the rose hips once you’ve used them to make tea, eat them after you’re done drinking the tea or add to soups or serve as a side at the supper table. There’s still a lot of nutritional value in the hips after they’ve been used in teas.

Wild Roseberry Jam Recipe: Gather the berries after the first frost. Remove seeds and hull. Wash. Add water just barely to cover the berries. Cook berries until soft. If mixture is too thick add water as needed. Set aside to cool. Mash and put through sieve. To 2 cups puree add 1 cup sugar and cook slowly until thick, stirring frequently. A better consistency is obtained if commercial pectin is used. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

The jam may be used on bread and as a filling for cakes.

Note: If desired, lemon juice may be added and used either as jam or meat sauce.

Roseberry Catsup Recipe:

4 quarts ripe berries (red and ripe)
1 clove garlic
2 medium sized onions
1 cup water (or more if necessary)

Boil these ingredients until they are soft. Strain them. Add 3/4 cup of brown sugar. Tie in a bag and add:

1/2 TBS whole allspice
1/2 TBS mace
1/2 TBS whole cloves
1/2 TBS celery seed
2 inch stick cinnamon

Boil these ingredients quickly. Add 1 cup vinegar, cayenne, salt, if desired. Boil catsup 10 minutes longer. Bottle it at once. Seal the bottles with wax. The flavor of this catsup is excellent.

Roseberry & Crabapple Jelly Recipe: Use 1/2 crabapple juice and 1/2 rose hip puree. To one cup of this mixture use 3/4 cup sugar. This jelly retains its Vitamin C content for as long as nine months without loss.

Note: Rose hip puree may be combined in jelly or jam with fruit such as cranberry, grape, chokecherry, red currant, wild plum, etc. Combine one part rose hip to two parts fruit or one to three if taste of rose hip is not desired. A little acid such as lemon juice adds to the flavor as does honey used for part or all of sugar.

Most rose hip products will be softer at first but will stiffen on standing. Do not place in sun to stiffen as this destroys Vitamin C.

How To Remove Hairs & Seeds From Rose Hips

It is desirable that the hairs and seeds of the rose hip be removed before consuming. The fine hairs associated with the seeds are unpleasant in the mouth and have an irritating action. A few different methods are used, try one of the following:

• Cut in half and shake out seeds, this takes the longest time;
• Cover with water and simmer, then rub through a sieve using the puree;
• Simmer whole Rose Hips in more than enough water to cover, then merely strain. Bottle the juice. Add sugar if desired and process 45 mins. This juice contains Vitamin C and may be added to sauces, soups (not cream soup), puddings, beverages and many other foods.

Did You Know: Women and children were encouraged to gather rose hips during World War II when food supplies were low, the Vitamin C the hips provided were a much needed source of nutrition and was highly valued over the winter months.

Source: Much of the information was found in Home Canning Guide, Dominion Glass Co. Limited (vintage booklet)

Don't Miss These Tips:

• How To Make Rose Water: Recipes & Tips
• How To Make A Rose Jar
• Homemade Rose Dusting Powder Recipe