Rosehips

[Airehead]

1. I would love to dry rose hips to use them for infusions through the year - but I can't figure out how to get rid of the hairs which I think are dangerous (and how many people used to call them 'itchibacks'?)

2. Ref rose hip syrup and other preparations which are reputed to be high in vitamin C, it sticks in my mind that vitamin C is destroyed by boiling. So are we fooling ourselves? I am supposed to be some sort of chemist but I have never found a definitive answer to this. Perhaps someone knows?

[Adam Cheeseman]

Personally, I just eat them straight off the bush when they are bright red. Split them open, rake out all the seeds, and eat the flesh. Better than blackberries.

Cheers,

Adam

[Gill Catton]

A recent River cottage programme made the syrup (or it may have been a sort of cordial) and put it into a punch which everyone seemed to like, that might have been the stimulus

[ron1863]

Originally Posted by canonman

Rosehips have been used since medieval times for cooking. remember as kids we used them to make itching powder.
That gives my age away.
Mick

Good God, you brought back memories. We also used them as itching powder. They were very effective. My mother made rose hip syrup.

[badgerwatcher]

I used to make rose hip syrup, the kids loved it.

[Jacky]

Yes, you destroy half the vitamen C by cooking the rosehips, but seeing as they're so high in the stuff and we get rather a lot of vitamens out of other foods these days (if you eat a healthy diet) that it's not really a problem.
Of course, making a syrup doesn't involve cooking them, prick them 5 times and put a layer over a layer of sugar and alternate layers. The sugar draws out the juices which, in turn, liquefy the sugar.

[Carl]

Originally Posted by Tinkerbell

I saw a lady gathering rosehips last week, whilst in the Lake District. What do folk use these for?

Tink

Check this link out;
Rose hip - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Seajay]

Originally Posted by Carl

Check this link out;
Rose hip - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the 1950's, as a schoolchild in Berwick-upon-Tweed, each year we would be paid a few old pennies a bag for rose-hips collected from the Tweed valley. A representative from where I can't remember, something to do with the Government after WW2 I think, used to call at the schools, weigh your collection and pay you! That was for rosehip syrup.
We used to go on nature walks then too, as part of the school curriculum, beach combing, bird watching along the river, the whole class. It was great and one of the things that got me interested in nature. A pity it was'nt done now though I suppose children have more to learn now.

[Underwood]

Hello, first post.

are there any particular roses that i should be on the look out for, or avoided?

[Lance Morgan]

Hello and welcome
Wild Roses are better than cultivated type though ramblers produce rose hips.