Rosehips

People often tout citrus fruits as the best source of vitamin C (spoiler: they aren’t) but overlook one of the best sources: Rosehips.

Let’s take a look at what they have to offer!

Plant Profile:

Scientific Name: Rosa Sp.

Preferred Habitat: Roses grow in a wide range of habitats. Depending on the species, they can be found in woodlands, margins of forests, swamps, fields, meadows, and even desert areas.

Edible Parts: Leaf, petals, fruit (hips) and buds

Distribution: There is a rose species of some sort almost everywhere in North America.

Harvest Season: Leaves and flowers can be harvested in spring, rosehips are harvested in fall and winter.

Key Identifiers: Roses have very distinct leaves that are serrated, thorns along the stem, and petal clusters that form a rose. Wild roses typically have fewer petals (in my area it’s usually 5) than the cultivated roses do.

Toxic Look-Alikes: Hawthorne berries look similar to rosehips (they’re in the same family) but typically grow on a tree and are still edible and medicinal. Otherwise, there are really NO toxic look-alikes.

Nutrition: (Per 2tbsp)

• Calories: 26

• Carbs: 6 grams

• Fiber: 4 grams

• Vitamin A: 4% of the Daily Value (DV)

• Vitamin B5: 3% DV

• Vitamin C: 76% DV (2oz contains approximately 2x the DV)

• Vitamin E: 6% DV

• Contains Lycopene

• Contains high levels of antioxidants

Once again, a nutritional powerhouse!

I will likely revisit this in future newsletters, but I wanted to address this here too: Rosehips have 8x more vitamin C than lemons.

This may come as a shock to a lot of you (it blew my mind when I learned about it!) but while citrus does have some vitamin C content, there are many other fruits and vegetables that contain far more than most citrus fruits. The fruit highest in Vitamin C is the Kakadu plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana) followed by the acerola cherry (Malpighia emarginata) with rosehips and sea buckthorn taking up the other top 4 spots. Lemons are number 15 on the top 20 list (even peppers are higher!)

That said, nutrient levels in rosehips will vary a bit from species to species.

Now before you go and get rosehip vitamin C supplements, you should know something else: generally speaking, rosehip products are pasteurized by being heat-treated.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but certain vitamins can be broken down during the cooking process (vitamins B and C in particular).

This is why I recommend finding your own rosehips fresh and enjoying them uncooked if possible! Like I mentioned in my article on Elderberry, cooking can drastically lower the health benefits which is why I prefer fermentation for medicinal uses.

So I would try to avoid things that call for heating them up, or at least replace the “boiling” step with just letting them steep cold.

That said, here are some amazing ways to enjoy rosehips:

For medicinal benefits: 

• Rosehip Iced Tea

• Dried rosehip powder

• Fermented rosehip honey

• Rosehip syrup (I would steep it in colder water, NOT hot water)

• Rosehip tincture

• Rosehip oil (steep in a carrier oil)

• Rosehip fermented soda

• Rosehip fruit leather

• Rosehip salve

For taste:

• Rosehip jam

• Rosehip hot tea

• Rosehip cocktails

• Rosehip latte

• Rosehip muesli

• Rosehip cookies

• Rosehip tarts

Ok time for my favorite part: what can I grow myself?

Growing your own rosehips is not only the best way to consistently get rosehips, but it also guarantees where they come from and you are able to select roses that grow larger hips. Obviously there are thousands of rose varieties, but I will focus mostly on ones that produce nice rosehips and have more culinary value:

Recommended Varieties/Species:

• Rosa rugosa: This species is known for its particularly large rosehips.

• Rosa rubignosa: A great rambling tea rose, known for its pungent fragrance and flavor.

• Rosa arvensis: Another good rambling rose option for teas.

• Rosa canina: The “dog rose” is a great multipurpose rose that is good for teas, jellies, and baked goods.

• Rosa eleganteria: The “sweet briar” rose tastes similar to apples, which makes it great for cooking and baking.

Generally, I would search for any of the “old garden” and “Rugosa” rose types when selecting for hips, but ultimately you can really use any rose for the benefits!

Antique Rose Emporium

Heirloom Roses

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