Rose hips

Rose hips are one of my all time favorites! I went out and spent a few hours picking just over a pound. I take them home, rinse and dry them. I choose the old fashioned method of air drying for these precious hips because that method is known to reserve the benefits the herbs have to offer. I am using my rose hips for many purposes. Rose hips contain 50% more vitamin C than oranges (over 500 mg of vitamin C per 1 cup of rose hips), so I enjoy them in my tea twice a day. I use rose hips to make a simple syrup that is used as a liquid sweetener for pancakes, yogurt, icing, cocktails and other treats. I also use rose hips in the beauty products I make. Rose hips hydrate the skin, increase collagen, reduce inflammation, have anti-aging effects, reduce wrinkles and brighten the skin, great for acne; I could go on and on about the benefits for the skin ... you can make jams, marinades, sauces, dry seasonings, soups, many wonderful delights. HACK: when I harvest my rose petals I am very careful to leave the stamen in place; just harvesting the petals. When you remove the stamen you remove the part of the rose that then becomes the hip. See the diagram I posted at the end. The participants should stay to secure rose hips later in the year. This way you can harvest both instead of one or the other. Think like nature: the petals fall off naturally but the stamen remains. The stamen was transformed and can be found at the top of the hip, in the center of the sepal. There is something about the sepal that really pulls at the strings of my nature. Perhaps it is that most rose hips have lost their sepal before the first frost. The first frost signals that it's time to start picking rose hips. It is absolutely amazing. HACK: Dry the rose hips and open them to find the seeds. Replant in the spring. They will grow 😍