The sweet, medicinal fruit of the Rose. Harvesting rose hips is such a treat! The bright colored red fruits are easily harvested and can be used in a variety of recipes. Harvest rose hips when they are deep red, ripe and soft to the touch, usually after the first frost. This is when they are said to be the sweetest.
Rose hips are high in vitamin C. Rose hip tea has mucilaginous properties that coat and soothe the mucus membranes. The tea is beneficial as a demulcent for treating a sore throat. The mucilage coats the digestive tract and soothes the digestive tissues after stomach flu, antibiotic use, dysentery, or giardia. It also has mild laxative effects. For more information on rose hips, be sure to visit the herbarium section of the website.
One of my favorite oils to use is Rosehip seed oil. Rich with vitamins, anti oxidants and essential fatty acids. The nutritive oil moisturizes and helps in reducing fine lines and wrinkles. Rose hip seed oil promotes healing and helps to fade scars with long term use. You can find this oil our
Facial Serum.
Rose hips can be used in a variety of foods. Try infusing in honey and use for tea and baking. Dried, powdered rose hips can be sprinkled on anything savory or sweet. Add the naturally sweet honey rose hip syrup to tea and cocktails. Here are a couple easy recipes using rose hips. Enjoy!
Simple Rose Hip + Honey Syrup
Rinse the freshly picked rose hips and twist off the dried calyx attached. Place the rose hips in the blender and add water to cover them about halfway. Pulse the blender to roughly chop the Rose hips just enough to release the juices. Put the freshly chopped rose hips in a pot and cover completely with water. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat for 5 minutes. Turn off and let the rose hips sit in the water for 15 min. Strain twice through a fine mesh strainer with a layer of cheesecloth to remove any possible irritating rose hip hairs. Coffee filters work nicely too. Add strained rose hips back to the pot, cover with water and repeat one more time. Measure your strained juice. For every 1 cup juice, add one cup honey (1:1). Whisk the honey and juice together in a saucepan over med heat, until honey is dissolved. Simmer for 15 minutes and remove from heat and allow to cool. This will keep for about 2 weeks. For long term storage, process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 min.
Rose Hip Jam
Fill jar 3/4 full with fresh or dried rose hips (cut, deseeded, sifted). Cover rose hips with organic apple juice and let sit overnight. Can be blended or left as is. Refrigerate.
Rosehip Tea
Sweet and tart and pairs nicely with other herbs like peppermint to round out the flavor. Start by picking, cleaning and processing the rose hips. Boil a pot of water and pour the hot water over the rose hips. If using fresh rose hips, use 1/4 cup of hips to 1 cup of water. If using dried rose hips, crush them up and use 1 heaping tablespoon per cup of water. Let the tea steep for 15 minutes covered, and then strain out the pulp with a clean coffee filter works the best to remove any of the small hairs present in the hips.
