Rose Hips from the Hills
Rose Hips are abundant in the Hills now.
They're a great, traditional source of Vitamin C and other antioxidants. They dry easily and don't lose much of their potency.
Most Roses will produce these Hips, which are their fruit and seed cases but I prefer those from Wild Roses (aka Dog Roses) that I find in the Hills.
But watch out, the fine little hairs inside are indigestible and can leave you in a pickle. Here's a fun fact - they're so irritating that they were used as the original itching powder!
Some folks make syrup with the Hips them but we don't here at Ligaya Garden because we have a diabetic in the family.
You'll find them in various stages but the general rule for foraging them is to get them as red as possible but before they start to go squishy. The pic above shows the ripening sequence from let to right.
As times get tougher and folks get generally sicker and more stressed, and new and better plagues make their way to our doors, free Rose Hips are going to help a lot. They're an excellent and easy addition to your home Apocathary
Some of you may have seen that I've been writing a series of posts about making herbal remedies at home. I want to share what I know of this topic so that, as the world gets crazier, folks will have other avenues of medical care, namely those of themselves and their community. If you look back over this blog, you can see heaps of info on the topic, plus loads and loads of posts on herbs and using Australian bushfoods from a white perspective. If you haven't been around on in the @hivegarden and @naturalmedicine communities for long, you may be interested in looking back. There's w-a-a-a-a-y too much there for me to repost and the Hive system doesn't let you vote on old posts so, if you're happy with what you find, I believe that there is now a tip option...
I've been told they make a good tea, but never saw how to do it! I'm weary to try now what with the fine hairs you mention. Saw a whole heap growing three days ago in a local forest. I suppose you can't eat them raw? Or that you can, but the whole process would be... bad.
It makes a delicious tea. Just steep some of the Hips in boiled water until strong enough for your taste. You don't need to cut or break the hip, the good stuffs in the skin too. If you do break it or use an open one, a fine seive can do the job.
Don't eat them raw some folks cook them up to make a Rose Hip Jelly
I'm going to try making tea, thank you!
let me know what you think of it.
I will! Thank you
As children we used the "hairs" as itching powder... to tease others. 😁
And once gotten rid of the hairs you can eat them also raw, though the taste is kinda "boff"... best is Jam.
kinda boff 😄
So ligayagardener was saying the hairs are inside the rose hips. Did you cut them open and remove them as kids?
Yes, i cut them in half and scoop out the hairy seeds. BTW all rose hips are edible, some are "better" in taste then others... the one you can find in the shops as tea, jam or whatev is mostly 'Rosa Canina', which is definitely one of my favourites. Here a picture of our last harvest 2023...
Wow, this is amazing! Thanks for sharing the picture and information 😃 Would of taken a long time to harvest and process all of those...
But none taste particularly 'good;' gotcha
I might have to go back and pick some to try eating, after scooping out the seeds, some day
I just realised, your profile pic, is that from The Fifth Element movie?
😏 That's not what i wanted to say about the raw ones... it's more, the riper - the sweeter. And even when cleaned out there always rest a bit of these little hairs, that's the boff part when eating raw. hehehe. Though the jam is a delight... best confiture ever. To me at least.
Good eyes on the picture, yes it's a Mondoshawan... 😁
Okay — that is interesting. Thanks for clarifying! I suppose the cooking during the jam-making process would render any remaining hairs non-irritable
A Mondoshawan! Well there you go. Missed that detail. Been a while since I saw the film but I remember it fondly.
This morning I have been enjoying your recent posts, I've found them interesting 🙂
The less 'hair' the less irritation... But yeah in the jam you wont realise some.
TFE - best film ever to me... 😁
It is great that you found a source for the rose hips. I rarely find any so pretty much have given up on that for myself. I have read so many uses for the hips and I know they are really good for health and skin.
I'm blessed to have a car so that I can travel the distance to get good Rose Hips. You can grow your own roses or harvest them from a neighbours. They probably have no use for them.
My favourite Jam... every year again.
Do you have a recipe you can share?
Sure, quite easy actually...
Voilà, voilà! And if you are making cookies, "glue" two together using a lot of rose hip jam as glue. Best ever!!! 😁
Sounds easy! I like the glue idea too, it's a great excuse to make 🍪
So amazing and lovely are rose hips. I didn't know that the hairs are so irritating -- good info, thanks! I have made some jams with rosehips and even made a "rosary" by stringing them along as if they were beads.
A Rose Hip Rosary...very cool