Rose Hips: Benefits, Nutrition, and Uses

Rose hips form on rose bushes after the rose has faded away. A rose hip looks like a small, red berry. Many people dead head faded roses to encourage more blooms, but this will stop the production of rose hips if you are trying to grow your own.

Nutrition

• Rose hips are very high in vitamin C, iron, vitamin A and calcium and contain good levels of vitamin E, manganese and B vitamins. You can use them for baking and health supplements.

Food

• Gail Butler describes how to make jelly, syrup and soup in "Gather Rose Hips for Health." The creamy soup recipe is Swedish and uses sour cream or yogurt.

Tea

• Growers dry the rose hips and seal them into tea bags or simply brew several hips in boiling water for ten minutes. This tea has a full bodied, woodsy flavor and can be sweetened like other teas with sugar or honey. The vitamin C content makes this tea great for colds and sore throats.

Growing

• Do not remove old rose blooms from roses. Wait for rose hips to form.

Drying

• Spread rose hips out on a cookie sheet and dry naturally over several weeks or dry in the oven. You can actually use them fresh, but drying rose hips preserves them for use all year.