Unripe rosehips

[Arzosah]

I had to prune a few roses recently - they were here when I bought this house. They had a *lot* of unripe rosehips on them, so as an experiment I lopped them off separately and set them on a windowsill to see what happened. I've just now investigated, as part of clearing the chaos in the house that October has become, and what was inside was really interesting - even in the almost fully developed hips, there was lots of *stuff* that looked like compressed dandelion seeds, plus one, maybe two seeds, a couple of millimetres across.

Its of no practical value now, but if ever TS were to HTF, I wonder about the nutritional value of those little seeds - they must be the part thats particularly high in micronutrients and vitamins, I suppose, and we don't just needs carbs and proteins, we need those pesky micronutrients. Anybody got any knowledge, or any ideas, about the seeds inside rosehips?

[dead-man-walking]

you would be better off cultivating sunflower seeds

[Arzosah]

I agree! But these are what's in my garden already, and in hedgerows, so this is what I'm investigating right now

[The Ace of Spades]

I don't have any experience with Rosehip Seeds, but this is what I have found out by doing a little research. The Rosehip Seeds contain an oil, and when extracted, this oil has a some medicinal uses. The only problem you have to get around is extracting the oil from the seeds.

Hope these links help answer a few questions you may have.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/25395 ... -seed-oil/

This short video shows the oil being extracted from the seeds. I'm sure there must be another simpler method other than that shown in the video. Would just require a little further research to find out how.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u59UCwZagDU

Hope this helps a little.

Ace.

[junmist]

If you can get the oil out of them great but one of the great things about rosehip seeds (as a kid) was that we used them as itching powder down peoples backs and one of the seeds names is itchybums as they make your bum itch as they go through you.

[Arzosah]

Wow, Ace, thank you!

And junmist ... erm, I'll give the itchybums a miss, ta muchly!

[The Ace of Spades]

Yeah, I remember using the seeds as itching powder when I was a Kid. Wasn't pleasant for the victim, which I was a few times.

Don't forget, you can make Rosehip Tea too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF8068t-fZE

Arzosah - No problem, happy to help.

Ace.

[PreppingPingu]

I collect rosehip from the hedgerows and make rosehip syrup sometimes as its high in vit c. I use it in fruit teas instead of honey, its good as a bollstering the immune system. You can use the syrup like you would maple, so on pancakes and other desserts as well as in drinks. (Though the last lot crystalised - guess I didnt heat for long enough and hot enough but I could still scrape the tasty sugery stuff out of the jar and use it drinks.)

[MedicHerbalist]

I agree with PPingu. Rosehips have a massive amount of vitamin C. This vitamin will be low in preserved foods so rose-hips are worth having. There are hundreds in a nature park near me and next year I will be harvesting them and preserving in honey. Honey will keep just fine so no pressure canning is needed. I have eaten some and they are a bit dry. I guess pickled in honey they will be quite nice.

[Arzosah]

Thanks folks! I guess its the "unripeness" thats still confusing me - I chopped some open and extracted the little seeds - I like the sound of just sticking them in honey, or even just sprinkling them across my porridge, like I do linseeds.

I *do* have lots of rosehips ripe at the moment, finally - so I'll have a go at making rosehip syrup and report back