Rosehip nutrition
Rose hips are used for herbal teas, jam, jelly, syrup, rose hip soup, beverages, pies, bread, wine, and marmalade. They can also be eaten raw, like a berry, if care is taken 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, which has prominent large red bottle-shaped fruits.
Rose hips are commonly used as a herbal tea, often blended with hibiscus, and an oil is also extracted from the seeds. 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, is made with rose hips.
Some people use rose hip as a source of vitamin C. It is true that fresh rose hip contains vitamin C. But processing and drying of the plant destroys most of the vitamin C. Besides vitamin C, other natural chemicals found in rose hip may be helpful for a variety of health conditions.
