Make your own rosehip tea
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Hedgerow food, Preserving, Save Money | 12 comments
Photo: Jars of rosehip tea
“Those two rose bushes beside the back door are totally out of control and need cutting back.” Danny remarked back in June.
I couldn’t oblige as I was planning to make tea. The bushes got more and more flamboyant until they were given a harvesting haircut at the weekend.
There are lots of roses growing in the cottage garden so we have a profusion of hips for preserving in the Autumn. I usually make rosehip and apple jelly and sometimes rosehip syrup but this year I’d discovered the huge benefits of drinking rosehip tea.
This would be less figure challenging than all that sugar and also preserve most of the vitamins and nutrients that are contained in the rosehips. Apparently they are packed with vitamin C A, B, E and K. Drinking the tea is said to help build the body’s immune system and combat colds and fevers. This tea also is believed to relieve mild arthritic pain and flush out the kidneys and urinary tract.
I mentioned on our forum that I’d found a great site for foragers – Eat Weeds and I used Robin’s method for drying and preparing the rosehips for tea. I was tickled to see that he has the same food dehydrator as me. He has a nifty method for removing the little hairs from the hips – they are a bit of a nightmare and are ultra itchy. Perhaps this could be a new sideline – selling itching powder to the children in the village?
I packed the dehydrator with rosehips and ended up with just these two jars so I’ll be foraging in the garden for more today. Tonight I’ll try my first pot, two heaped teaspoons infused for 15 minutes sweetened with a little honey. It’s supposed to be most effective taken at bedtime.
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I have dehydrated in the oven , turn oven to 175 and leave in over night , works just fine
Hello from Romney Marsh. Can anyone make Rosehip Tea without a dehydrator please?
Incidentally, I have just discovered your site(s)and am really pleased to find so many like-minded people out there!
Hi Macavity
There must be a way – perhaps in the oven and then the airing cupboard?
A dehydrator is a good investment as you can dry alsmost anything efficiently and easily.
Hi Sabine,
i am still enjoying rosehips tea , i find it strong and energetic.i am happy to read this blog.
thanks
Sounds great….but what if you don’t happen to have a food dehydrator lying around at home?!
Our dehydrator is going with clippings from the rosemary hedge, but I think I will have try rose hips next! That’s far more exciting!
Hi Fiona,
your post has awakened childhood memories:
Rosehip tea was my favourite drink for supper when I was a child. You still get it in every German youth hostel – unfortunately always from a bag…
In autumn, nobody at school would have thought of buying itching powder. There were lots of dog rose bushes around, and the seeds and hairs did the job just fine… 🙂
Hey. Really enjoy reading your blog. We had a mammoth rosehip foraging session a weekend or so back – picture of our haul here: http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/community_content/_pictures/7407
We did make some rosehip cordial with some, but our main reason was to collect tasty, healthy, free treats/supplementary food for our animals. The chinchillas, guinea pigs and dog all enjoy them!
I made some of that tea last year, it was quite nice but always seemed to have a bit of a mettalic taste, and eventually I couldnt help feeling that it tasted a bit like thin blood… and so stopped drinking it. Very simple to make though, and particularly good for al fresco brewing 🙂
I think I’m in need of a big mug of your tea – it might help me to fight off this cold!
I hope your tea tastes as good as it sounds and gives your body lots of goodness.
When I tink of rosehips, I think of being tucked up in bed as a child and my Mum administering Delrosa syrup!
Celia
I don’t think I will bother foraging for rosehips now because we are just having our second snowfall of the year. Global warming! Pah! (Don’t worry I still care about the environment)