Rose hip - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The rose hip, or rose haw, is the fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

of the rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

plant, that typically is red-to-orange, but ranges from dark purple to black in some species. Rose hips begin to form in spring, and ripen in late summer through autumn.

Usage

Rose hips are used for herbal tea, jam, jelly, syrup

Syrup

In cooking, a syrup is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but showing little tendency to deposit crystals...

, soup

Soup

Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...

, beverages, pie

Pie

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....

s, bread

Bread

Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...

, wine, and marmalade

Marmalade

Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits, boiled with sugar and water. The benchmark citrus fruit for marmalade production in Britain is the "Seville orange" from Spain, Citrus aurantium var...

. They can also be eaten raw, like a berry, if care is used to avoid the hairs inside the fruit.

A few rose species are sometimes grown for the ornamental value of their hips, such as Rosa moyesii
Rosa moyesii
Rosa moyesii is a large shrub rose, originating in West China. It has red flowers in summer, followed by prominent bottle-shaped rose-hips, which are very high in vitamin C and taste like a vitamin C tablet. Flower petals also have a slight taste of it. It is sometimes grown as a specimen...

, which has prominent large red bottle-shaped fruits.

Rose hips have recently become popular as a healthy treat for pet chinchillas and guinea pig

Guinea pig

The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...

s. These small rodent

Rodent

Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....

s are unable to manufacture their own vitamin C and are unable to digest many vitamin-C rich foods. Rose hips provide a sugarless, safe way to increase their vitamin C intake.

Rose hips are also fed to horses. The dried and powdered form can be fed at a maximum of 1 tablespoon per day to improve coat condition and new hoof growth.

The fine hairs found inside rose hips are used as itching powder

Itching powder

Itching powder refers to a group of powders or powder-like substances that induce itching when applied onto human skin. This is usually done as a practical joke or prank to an unsuspecting victim....

. Dried rosehips are also sold for primitive crafts and home fragrance purposes.

Rose hips were used in many food preparations by the indigenous peoples of the Americas

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

.

Rose hips can be used to make Palinka

Palinka

Pálinka or Palincă is a traditional fruit brandy made in regions of the Carpathian Basin. Modern commercial production occurs in Hungary, Romania and parts of Austria. It is commonly made from the fermentation of plums, but other fruits used include apricots, apples, pears, peaches and cherries...

, a traditional Hungarian alcoholic beverage. They are also the central ingredient of Cockta

Cockta

Cockta is a soft drink from Slovenia.Its main ingredient comes from the dog rose hip. The other ingredients come from 11 different herbs, lemon and orange. It contains neither caffeine nor orthophosphoric acid.-Origins:...

, the fruity-tasting national soft drink of Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

.

In his book Stalking the Faraway Places, wild foods enthusiast Euell Gibbons

Euell Gibbons

Euell Theophilus Gibbons was an outdoorsman and proponent of natural diets during the 1960s.He was born in Clarksville, Texas, on September 14, 1911, and spent much of his youth in the hilly terrain of New Mexico during the dust bowl era. His mother taught him about foods available in the wild...

recommended stuffed rose hips made by slicing a large hip in half, removing the seeds and inserting a wild raspberry.

Rose hips are commonly used as an herbal tea, often blended with hibiscus and as an oil. They can also be used to make jam, jelly, marmalade and rose hip wine. Rose hip soup, "nyponsoppa," is especially popular in Sweden. Rhodomel, a type of mead

Mead

Mead , also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained immediately after fermentation...

, is made with rose hips.

Medical uses

Rose hips are particularly high in vitamin C

Vitamin C

Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...

content, one of the richest plant sources available. However, RP-HPLC assays of fresh rose hips and several commercially available products revealed a wide range of L-ascorbic acid content, ranging from 0.03 to 1.3%. Rose hips of some species, especially Rosa canina (Dog Rose) and R. majalis
Rosa majalis
Rosa majalis J. Herrm. is a species of deciduous shrubs in the genus Rosa, native to forests of Europe and Siberia. It grows to 2 m...

, have been used as a source of vitamin C

Vitamin C

. During World War II, the people of Britain were encouraged through letters to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

newspaper, articles in the British Medical Journal
British Medical Journal
BMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...

, and pamphlets produced by Claire Loewenfeld

Claire Loewenfeld

Claire Loewenfeld, born Lewisohn in Berlin, Germany was a nutritionist and herbalist who worked in England during and after the Second World War promoting the importance of good nutrition, most notably rosehips from Britain's hedgerows as a source of vitamin C...

, a dietitian

Dietitian

Dietitians supervise the preparation and service of food, develop modified diets, participate in research, and educate individuals and groups on good nutritional habits. The goals of dietitians are to provide medical nutritional intervention, and to obtain, safely prepare, serve and advise on...

working for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, to gather wild-grown rose hips and to make a vitamin C syrup for children. This was because German submarines were sinking many commercial ships: citrus fruits from the tropics were very difficult to import.

Rose hips contain plenty of lycopene

Lycopene

Lycopene is a bright red carotene and carotenoid pigment and phytochemical found in tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables, such as red carrots, watermelons and papayas...

, an important and strong antioxidant

Antioxidant

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons or hydrogen from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals. In turn, these radicals can start chain reactions. When...

, that is an integral part of low density lipoprotein (LDL) as well as of many cellular membranes. Lycopene in rosehips differs greatly in its isomer distribution than in other sources (tomatoes, pink grapefruit).

Rose hips also contain some vitamin A and B, essential fatty acids and antioxidant

Antioxidant

flavonoid

Flavonoid

Flavonoids , are a class of plant secondary metabolites....

s.

A study of a rose-hip preparation for treating rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...

concluded that there was a benefit, apparently due to both anti-inflammatory

Anti-inflammatory

Anti-inflammatory refers to the property of a substance or treatment that reduces inflammation. Anti-inflammatory drugs make up about half of analgesics, remedying pain by reducing inflammation as opposed to opioids, which affect the central nervous system....

and anti-oxidant

Antioxidant

effects.

Rose hips are used to help prevent colds

Common cold

The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...

and influenza

Influenza

Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...

Propagation

Roses are propagated from hips by removing the achene

Achene

An achene is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate and indehiscent...

s that contain the seeds from the hypanthium

Hypanthium

A hypanthium is a floral structure consisting of the bases of the sepals, petals, and stamens fused together. Its presence is diagnostic of many families, including the Rosaceae, Grossulariaceae, and Fabaceae...

(the outer coating) and sowing just beneath the surface of the soil. The seeds take at least three months to germinate. Most species require chilling and many will not germinate until the second spring after planting in a climate that has cold winters.

Usage

Medical uses

Propagation

See also