Rosehips

Nature’s Vitamin C

A summer hedgerow covered with rambling rose is a delightful sight in June, but come back a couple of months later and find its equally delightful hips ready for gathering, prepping and storing for use like bottled sunshine to keep us going through the winter.

As well as the vitamin C they’re famed for, rosehips contain vitamins E, B1 and B6 plus 23 minerals including phosphorous, iron, zinc and magnesium. They also have antioxidant components such as flavonoids, phytochemicals and carotenoids.

Incorporating rosehip into your diet can therefore help protect against disease and infections, lower inflammation and reduce oxidative stress in the body (the stuff that ages us too quickly).

Itching to try them

If the thought of rosehips brings the twitch of an itch to you, that’s probably an association with the ‘itching powder’ that could be scratched out from inside the rosehip, dried, and sprinkled over the unsuspecting victim. It’s good to remember this when prepping rosehips, as you’ll want to extract that itchy stuff along with the seeds so you can produce your rosehip remedies using just the juicy bits.

Labour of love

Yes, it is a fiddly task. Each hip needs to be cut open and the seeds and pesky hairy, itchy bits removed. Allow a good few hours for this, which is fine if you’ve a film or a podcast to settle into while you work.

It will make you appreciate the big juicy hips – they can vary from pea-sized to something equivalent to a gobstopper – which get more bang-for-your-buck in prep time; and it will make you cherish the end product of your efforts.

Rosehip seed oil

Precious rosehip seed oil is a high-quality ingredient in lovely natural skincare, prized for its ability to reduce scarring, assist with cell regeneration, delay effects of ageing and promote collagen and elastin levels to create firmer, smoother skin.

You may find online recipes that suggest you can make your own rosehip oil by infusing your gathered rosehips in an oil, such as sunflower or sweet almond oil. This is entirely different to the much prized, beneficial rosehip seed oil.

Rosehip seed oil is made by pressing the seeds that are found within the rosehip to extract the oil they contain. This is then sieved and treated to create the beautifully smooth rosehip seed oil that is used in cosmetics and natural skincare. It’s not a process that can be performed at home.

Rosehip powder

Rosehip powder is something you can make at home, and its a very useful way to store your rosehip harvest to be able to use through the winter.

Start with at least four handfuls of rosehips and take your time to do all that fiddly splitting and deseeding described above.

Once you’ve clean rosehip flesh, you’ll need to dry this, either by leaving out on a tray for several days, turning occasionally, or, if you have one, in a dehydrator, but don’t have the temperature any higher than about 45 degrees and allow about 10 hours.

When completely dry, use a coffee grinder to grind them until powdery, then put the powder into an air tight jar for storage and keep it in a cool, dark place. It should keep for about a year, but you should aim to use it and get the benefit from it through this winter.

Using your rosehip powder

When you want a vitamin and mineral boost you can simply add a couple of tablespoons of powder to a smoothie.

Alternatively, get in the habit of drinking a cup of warm water with a teaspoon each of rosehip powder and lemon juice.

You can sprinkle your rosehip powder over yoghurt, icecream, cereal or porridge

Or you can use the recipe here to make rosehip protein balls.

Rosehip protein balls

Soak 100g almonds in hot water for 10-15 min to remove their skins (they should slip off). Put the skinned almonds in a food processor with 100g dried apricots and blend to a fine consistency.

Add 2 tsp coconut oil and a dash of vanilla essence along with spices and salt: 4 tsp rosehip powder, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp chilli powder, pinch of salt.

Put the dough in the fridge for 15 min, then take it out and use a small spoon to mould it into balls.

In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp cocoa powder and 1 tsp rosehip powder to make a coating and roll the balls in this, or sieve it over them.

Keep in the fridge before serving.

Other ways to save your rosehips

Rosehips can be dried whole, or frozen for later use. They can also be incorporated into a fire cider to provide a daily shot of heath. We’ll be talking more about fire ciders in future blogs …