Rose hip is the round portion of the rose flower just below the petals; it contains the seeds of the rose plant.
Because I'm trying to make my own natural teas, I went on a rose hip harvesting mission two weeks ago (very end of September).
As it happens, the place with the most rose hips on our property was in the border area of our front woods (an area that the neighboring farmer uses to pasture his cows from time to time).
When I went on my rose hip harvesting mission, I forgot to check beforehand to see whether or not the neighbor's cows were in the area (I can typically tell by noting whether the electric fencing "gate" is in place). This resulted in me and a couple of mature cows being surprised by each other as I got to the rose hip patch. The cows ran one way and I trotted the other.
Once the cows and I got far enough away from each other to feel comfortable, I decided to continue with my harvest. In harvesting the rose hips, I quickly determined that I should have worn work gloves and an already worn work shirt to save my hands and clothes from all of the thorns.
As time went on, the cows got curious and their curiosity seemed to overtake their fear. They ever so slowly moved closer and closer and didn't take their eyes off of me the whole time.
The closer they got, the more I became skittish. I eventually decided that I had enough rose hips; the havoc to my hands from the thorns and the encroaching cow risk may have helped my conclusion of "enough". I slowly walked away...
With my harvest in hand, I now needed to figure out how to dry them. In looking online, there were many references to drying in a low/slow oven or in a food dehydrator; however, I did not want to go this route. From what I read, it is easy to destroy the vitamin C within the rose hips by using excess heat. Also, it is my goal to do things as naturally as possible and to not use fossil fuel unless absolutely necessary. I did more "research" to see if air drying would work and it turns out it does. You just need to spread your rose hips in a thin layer on a tray and then give the process lots of time (1-3 months is not uncommon). So this is what I'm doing. I'll know in a couple of months how it worked...
If all goes well, I'll have dry rose hips in a couple of months. Then, I'll be able to crush them using a mortar and pestle and use the result in tea blends.
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