It’s that time of year again when I can harvest all the rose hips that come across the fence into our garden from my neighbour’s beautiful wild rose. I have no idea which variety it is, but I know it is wild. I remember it appearing there 10 years ago and now it is a mature bush, about 10 foot high, and each year it is full of flowers. Apparently, all parts of the rose are edible, and so I don’t need to know what it’s scientific name is, I only need to know how to identify a rose. Look into this yourself!

Get your gloves on!

I can’t forget it is a wild rose when I am plucking the beautiful bullet shaped, bright Coquelicot, shiny-red hips from it, as it has millions of really tiny sharp thorns that really get into your skin and snag on your clothes, it is rather like a battle between the thorns and my fingers. Every year I swear that the next year I’ll wear gloves! Yet every year I get so excited when the time is right to pluck them off and I forget.

But after 30 minutes watching some of them merrily bobbing away, boiling on the stove, as the water turns into the most beautiful red/orange colour, and then, drinking the comforting syrupy fruity juicy cup of tea, the scratches and thorns embedded in my hands pale into insignificance. The smell is indescribably wonderful, and wholesome, floating through the house whilst they boil away. I use a potato masher to mush them up every now and then, and if the water level looks low, I add more. It really is trial and error and personal preference.

The longer you leave them boiling, the ‘thicker’ the liquid gets, and it becomes more like a syrup, which you can dilute. It is also good to bottle it, keep it in the fridge and later, either add hot water, or drink it cold. It’s important to have a good strainer to hand - I use a tea strainer when I am emptying the iquid either into my cup or into a bottle - as you don’t want to be drinking the seeds or the tiny little hairs that surround them.

Before I have spent hours - yes hours - de-seeding the rose hips, and just keeping the flesh to boil or dry, but it really does seem to be a waste of time. Now I just put the whole rose hip straight into the boiling water. It takes 20 to 30 minutes to boil them into a drink. Or longer, depending on how thick you like the ‘syrup’.

Here are some photos which I took today - you can see some dried rose hips from last years’ harvest and a new tray-load from today. I have a great shed/office in our garden that is a fantastic place for drying things, so I will put them in there and leave them alone to dry out.

One of them flew out of the tin onto the garden table, and on closer inspection I saw that it actually wanted to be a little bird!

The dried ones are fantastic, I add some to a glass of water overnight then boil them up to make tea. I drink the tea with a teaspoon of honey, and it makes me feel like everything is going to be ok.

Here is a short video which I made last year - Rose hips, a gift from nature by Becky — Carry Forth Tradition - with accompanying acoustic guitar music by my friend Conan! - it is a handy walkthrough of how to tackle rose hips to make tea.

For the video last year, I’d gathered rose hips (you can see them below) from wild ‘Rugosa Roses’ in the hedgerows along the fields whilst I was up North staying with my parents. They are my favourite wild roses - they smell so beautiful, like old roses, and their hips are fat and round, and to be honest, I can’t tell the difference in taste between either this variety or the ones from our garden, they are both really good. So have a go! They’re really good for you, full of all the good vitamins a body needs, and especially vitamin C. Enjoy!

(Medical disclaimer - I am not doctor and I trust you will look into this for yourself).