Rose Hip Spread, Jam...

[Tim Horton]

In the next small town one way from us, we stopped in a small grocery, bakery, deli store.. Sweetie found a jar of rose hip spread, jam... A product of Croatia.



Very dense fine fruit pulp, a small bit of tart to it. Actually very good and not any more expensive than most jams. I think there is commercial made tea made with that. Have not tried it or tried to make homemade tea.... Yet...



We use a lot of wild rose hips in our chicken and rabbit feed. We have all the relatives that can pick and freeze wild rose hips in season for us. Works out well as a nutrient supplement for critters.



Wild rose is an invasive plant here. I do my best to brush hog mow it as often as I can in the pastures and such. There is still a lot of it in the bush I can't get to.



Anyone done anything with rose hips from a cooking, baking angle ??

[bowdonkey]

I used to get Rosehip jam in Ontario, a product from Bulgaria. Absolute ambrosia. Absolutely heavenly! If I keep drooling I'll short out the keyboard. Anyway I've asked this question in the past here and elsewhere. Our wild hips here are too small to deal with. Now and then I run across some that might be quarter sized. Still too small to fuss with. The biggest I seen was hanging on a bush in a farmers yard in Ontario. 50 cent piece sized and larger. That would be ideal. Lots of seeds and fuss to process from the research I've done. Syrup and tea is probably the eaisest way to go for utilizing hips. Finding a rose variety with big hips that survives zone 3 has been elusive so far. 

[feather]

1943 Hedgerow Harvest
www.recipespastandpresent.org.uk/wartime/category/hedgerow-harvest/

I've never come across large rose hips, here, in Wisconsin. There are tiny ones on my white roses.

[Tim Horton]

We seem to have the Alberta style red, pink wild rose. The hips are about the size of a marble. Unfortunately they thrive quite well in our zone 2.....

We have a big brush pile, about 20 x 50 meters, x 3 meters high in a gully in the back of the big pasture. It is ringed with wild rose, so we have a good supply. The only thing to watch for is something lives in that brush pile. I'm not sure what, but I have seen tracks in and out. Can't distinguish what the tracks are, but obviously about the size of a Shepard dog.

We harvest and freeze all we can. Relatives pick and freeze for us also. All to use in our homemade critter foods. Will have to try some homemade jam...