Rosehips: A Tasty Winter Reminder of Beautiful Summer Blooms

BY DAVID OTTERSTROM

Rosehips are the fruit you see hanging from rose bushes across the Inland Northwest after the flowers and leaves fade away in autumn. After a few frosts, rosehips become sweet and tender. Perfect for topping many desserts, you can purée them fresh and use them as a sauce over cake and ice cream or dry them and use for tea.

Winter is always the best time of the year to pick rosehips. Rosehips are the fruit you see hanging from rose bushes after the flowers and leaves fade away in autumn.

After a few frosts, the rosehips become sweet and tender.

They can stay on the plant throughout the winter before decomposing. As long as they still have their beautiful red or orange hues, the rose hips will be good to pick.

Foraging for Local Flavor

We are lucky in the Inland Northwest to have many varieties of wild roses as well as garden escapee roses that now grow wild. They all have edible rosehips, although some are tastier than others. My favorites are from the Dog Rose and the Sweetbrier Rose. These varieties have large rosehips that are sweet and full of flavor.

You can also pick rosehips from your own yard if you have rose bushes, as long as they have not been sprayed. Always make certain what you are picking are in fact rosehips. A good way to know with certainty is to observe the plant a full year cycle so you can see the rose blossoms and leaves in summer to confirm.

The outer flesh of the rosehip is the part we are after. It is sweet and full of vitamin C and other antioxidants and nutrients. I recommend wearing gloves when picking rosehips because the thorns on the plant are sharp. The inside of the rosehip is made up of hairy covered achenes.

From Garden to Gourmet

Achenes are technically the fruit, but look like seeds. The seeds are inside the hard shell of the achenes. Some rosehips have one achene and some have many. Remove the achenes and hairy fibers before eating the outer flesh. You want to do this because the hairs can cause irritation in the mouth and digestion, and the achenes are too hard to chew.

Just open up the rosehips and remove everything inside until all you have left is the bright colored outer flesh.

The outer flesh can be eaten raw. I think it tastes like apple fruit leather. It has a sweet and tart flavor. Perfect for topping many desserts. You can purée them fresh and use them as a sauce over cake and ice cream.

You can also dry them and use for tea. Rosehips can also be used for syrups, jellies and soups. For these things you don’t have to remove the inside of the rosehips.

Simply place the rosehips in a pot with just enough water to cover them and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain out the debris and use the liquid left for your recipes.

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