Rose hips.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Rose hips
From: bella.kinney.channel1.com (Bella Kinney)
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 09:30:00 -0640

> I know rose hips are high in vitamin C. Are they beneficial to add to herb teas? If they are when are they collected? Once dry on the bush or before? Also do you collect the wild rose hips or shrub roses in the yard?

Gather the wild rose hips (Rosa Rugosa) when they are ripe and red. These can be quite large, I have seen ping pong ball sized at the J.F.K. memorial near Boston (which is one of my favorite places to collect them). Cut them open and scoop out the seeds and spines, then you can treat them like any fruit! I have dried them for tea, made jam, and eaten them raw! There is this problem with diminishing returns if you try to deal with the tiny fruit found on some roses but the large plump hips I have foraged on the New England coast are truely delicious. On one camping trip on the coast of Maine I found Rose Hips, Huckleberries,and Raspberries all growing within a few yards of each other and the high tide line. We dug some clams and mussels and what a shore dinner that was!