How to Eat a Rose Hip

As a child I remember taking walks with my dad and learning how to eat rose hips. I mention this every once in a while and am sometimes met with disbelief. I assume this is because, usually they are quite hard and do not appear to be tasty. Also, inside of rose-hips there are nasty seeds with prickly bristles, which form an ideal itching powder (second and third image). Getting these seeds and the accompanying bristles on your tongue is exceedingly unpleasant.

However, after the first frost sets in and once they have frozen and thawed again, they turn into tiny balls of jam, hanging from the trees. I thought I would share how to eat these tiny balls of creamy goodness.

Find a medium to large sized rose hip (Small ones sometimes are very sour and you get less bang for the buck, large ones can sometimes be very dry). Test them with your fingers. If they feel squishy and juicy on the inside you have found what you are looking for (if they are squishy but dry, they are ideal for itching powder, if they are hard, they have probably not completely frozen yet).

Once you pull it off its branch, you should see a small hole on the bottom of the rose hip. This is your access point to the tangy sweetness. Turn it so that the access point faces towards you and give it a gentle squeeze. Make sure the seeds stay inside its skin (to prevent the 'itching powder on tongue' sensation).

This one should be self explanatory.

(But don't eat too many of them, as they are some of the very few sources of nourishment birds have during the winter. Be sure to leave enough for your feathered friends. On the other hand, you should also make sure to share them with your non-feathered friends, as they are one of the best sources of vitamin C - much more so than the overrated lemon.)