Rose Hips: An Excellent Source To Get Vitamin C!

Rose Hips. Yes, rose hips do come from those rose plants you have planted in your yard. This berry is very high in vitamin C, even higher than oranges.

With one to two percent vitamin C, by dry weight, rose hips have a higher content than citrus fruit. During World War II when imports of citrus products to Great Britain were limited, tons of rose hips were harvested there from the wild to make rose hip syrup as a vitamin C

In addition to vitamins C, E, and K, rose hips contain calcium, citric acid, iron, niacin, phosphorus, tannin, vitamin A, B1, B2, and P. Rose hips provide innumerable health benefits from skin, to the immune system, to the bladder.

Additionally, it has been recently shown that rose hips are beneficial to patients suffering from knee or hip osteoarthritis.

After the flower blooms and dies back the fruit appears below the flower. If you leave the spent flowers on the rose bush at the end of the season, you should see these small, berry-sized, reddish seed balls, left on tips of the stems.

It will be green at first and then turn red. They look like little pumpkins and are gorgeous.

I enjoy the appearance of the hips on the rosebushes in the fall, and they attract birds. Not all roses form hips. With roses that do make hips, it can take two to six months after bloom for the hip to form.

Small hips form the fastest. Hips are ripe when they are fully colored and slightly soft to the touch. The best time to harvest rose hips is after the first frost.

Frost helps sweeten the flavor. They should still be firm and have good color. Leave the shriveled or dried hips for the birds.

Waiting until after a frost is also good for the plant, since cutting the hips before frost could encourage the rose to send out new growth which would be killed back at the first frost.

Almost all types of roses bear hips, but the heirloom roses produce hips of the highest quantity and quality. Wild roses (Rosa rugosa) produce the best and most prolific hips.

There are many culinary uses for rose hips. They can be used fresh, dried, or preserved. Rose hips can be used in apple sauce, soups and stews, syrups, puddings, marmalade, tarts, breads, and pie, or made into a jam or jelly

High in vitamin C, rose hips impart a lemony-tart flavor to tea. They can be steeped by themselves for tea, or mixed with other herbs for a tasty and nutritious beverage.

For fresh brewing, steep a tablespoon or two of clean hips in a cup of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Sweeten with honey and enjoy. To make a tea of dried hips, use only two teaspoons to one cup of boiling water and steep for 10 to 15 minutes.

• How To Prepare Rose Hips For Tea

Collect rose hips after the first frost.Rinse your rose hips off with cold water and set them on a glass dish to dry out. You should make sure they are in a place that is dry and dark.

Wait four days to a week for the skin on the outside of the rose hips to begin to dry up. Once this happens you need to slice the rose hips in half with a sharp knife.

Remove all of the seeds in the center of the rose hips. You should be able to get them out with your fingers, but you can use a spoon to help scoop them out if you need to.

Set the rose hips out to dry again. This time wait until they are completely dried out. It may take another week or two.

Place the dried rose hips in a plastic bag and set them in the refrigerator if you plan on using them within two months. If not, set them in the freezer.

Want to know more about vitamin C and rose hips?  Then click here:

Flu Concerns? Take Vitamin C To Resist Infection! | Natural Health Solutions

Tweet me in Tweeter and follow me on Facebook.

Yours truly, Polly – Organic Gardener