When and how to harvest rosehips. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Rosehips generally appear between late summer and late autumn, depending on where you’re located. Try to gather them after the first frost. Freezing temperatures break down the fruits’ cellular walls, which makes rosehips sweeter and juicier.
If you live in a place that only gets mild winters, picks when they look full, ripe, and healthy. Rosehips can be stored in the freezer for up to six months. Freezing them will retain medicinal properties and also preserves their flavor. They don’t taste like roses, but instead have a bright-yet-earthy taste, somewhere between flowers and citrus.
Although these can be dried whole, they dry more quickly and thoroughly if you halve them. Additionally, cutting them in half means that you can see whether they’ve dried out completely or not. All it takes is one moldy rosehip to spoil an entire batch that it’s stored with. You can either dry rose hips in the sunshine or better yet by using a food dehydrator. Once they’re dry, transfer them into a clean glass jar with a lid. Store this in a cupboard, out of direct sunlight, and use it as needed.
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