This might be a strange question, but on my walks around my area I found some rose hips still on the bush.
I was wondering how long you can process rose hip for jams and jellies, and teas?
If you founds the hips even in the mid-late winter can you still use them?
... but I don't know how potent they would be.
Nothing to lose by trying them in tea, then you would know if it was worth it.
unlikely they would be of any use it would be better to leave them to the wild birds and animals who could find them the difference betwix life and death in winter.
I collect wild rose hips in autumn and freeze them and add them (thawed first) to the seed mix in fat I put out for the birds in winter. Haven't heard any complaints yet.
I recently watch a cartoon about rose hips and it is said that the pits are covered in itching powder. Was wondering if that is true and if I should use protection while I hull the hips?
... not that I recommend believing everything one hears.
BUT some people do not process the rose hips, just dry and store them or make tea, syrup and jelly.
AND some do. The itching is apparently caused by the hairs on the seeds. Seed removal may make for a sweeter product, as well as providing a planting, so it is apparently up to you.
For removing seeds, this is a good article:
http://tarragonnthyme.blogspot.com/2010/09/hedge-picking-and-processing-rosehips.html
We used to put hip seeds down lads shirts or in the hat of a bald teacher. Yes they do itch, a natural cheap way to annoy as a child was great.
Nothing's better than the tried-and-true!!
Thanks Colin *smile*
P.S. This is still safer than a burr under the saddle, so you were a smart not-quite-ill-spent youth!
