Rose hips are the fruit, or seed pods, of rose plants.
They are ornamental, looking like small crabapples.
Rose hips are edible, and many birds enjoy them.
The Spruce / Meg MacDonald
Thankfully, harvesting rose hips is easy.
All roses should produce hips, thoughrugosa rosesnative shrub rose speciesare said to have the best-tasting hips.
These hips are also generally the largest and most abundant.
The Spruce / Kaley McKean
Light frost helps sweeten the flavor.
The hips should appear firm and have good color.
Typically, rose hips are red or orange at maturity.
The Spruce / Meg MacDonald
Hold the hip securely and slice it in half.
Cut the hips in half and manually scoop out the seeds.
You don’t need to remove the seeds if you’re making jelly.
The Spruce / Meg MacDonald
The hips can be used immediately or dried or frozen to be stored for future use.
Tip
For the most healthful impact, use rose hips when they are fresh.
Rose Hip Jelly
Rose hips can be cooked to extract the juice for jams and jellies.
The Spruce / Meg MacDonald
The juice can be strained and used immediately or frozen for up to a year.
When making jelly, rose hips are often mixed with other fruits, such as apples or cranberries.
When completely dry, store them in airtight jars.
The Spruce / Meg MacDonald
The rose hips from all types of roses are edible.
Just ensure they haven’t been treated with any pesticides.
Rose hips are safe to eat raw.
The Spruce / Meg MacDonald
However, you’ll want to remove the itch-producing hairs surrounding the seed first.
Rose hips have a floral, slightly sweet, and tart flavor.
They are similar in tartness to citrus.
The best time to harvest rose hips is in the fall, shortly after the first frost.
Some believe that the cold weather causes the sugars to concentrate, making rose hips sweeter.
One of the easiest ways to process rose hips is by drying them.
you might dry them in the sun, in the oven, or in a dehydrator.
Rose Hips: Attractive and Edible.University of Vermont Department of Plant and Soil Science.
Onyeka UE, Ibeawuchi ON.Loss of food nutrients orchestrated by cooking pots: a common trend in developing world.
J Food Sci Technol.
2021 Aug;58(8):2906-2913.
