Rose Hips: Some Food For Thought
Rose Hips: Some Food For Thought
Rose hips are extremely high in Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), have some
beta-carotene (plant form of Vitamin A), bioflavonoid, and considerable
pectin which helps to prevent intestinal cancers.
Unfortunately, these days, most households use rose hips only for tea.
What a waste!
Dried rose hips need to be boiled about 10 minutes to make a tea of
them. You typically use 2 tablespoons per pint of water, and then boil
covered. The rose hips must expand and split, letting the water get at
the soft seeds within.
But your grandmother did not brew a tea and throw away the cooked
berries. She recycled them into soups and stews. The berries would
later resurface on the dinner table as vegetables flavored with butter
and salt. There is still a lot of remaining food value in them, cooked
berries. Just think, rose hips contain more Vitamin C than oranges!
During World War II, when the government stressed self-sufficiency by
urging homemakers to grow fruits and vegetables in their backyard, rose
hips were touted as a high-C food. There were plenty of recipes around
for these “hero” berries, which doubled as vegetables and tasty
desserts (think jams).
Fast track to modern times. Rosehips have gone out of fashion now,
and the government much prefers that you buy ascorbic acid in tablet
form. And so the question is, has anyone seen the actual rosehips
which were used in the making of your favorite rose hips tea?
Do you notice if you leave the flower on your rosebush, the petals
eventually fall off, and a small red fruit emerges -- that is the rose hip.
Rose hips form on any sort of rose shrub, even a hybrid tea or
floribunda, although the hips most commonly used in foods come from
wild roses.