Picked lots of rose hips in the woods. Makes delicious tea with lots of vitamin C
A Dakota elder taught me that one of the names for rose hips in Dakota translates to "itchy ass berries" - so do NOT eat them whole! Tea only!
@sundogplanets Yes, gratte-cul en français !
@sundogplanets gratte-cul in French (visibly a very international definition) but we make jam with them which is a tedious process.
@lenatrad @sundogplanets gratte-cul jam is soooooo delicious tho :blobfoxdrool:
@sundogplanets
Oh wow it's just like the french popular name for it "gratte cul"
@sundogplanets we used to get given rosehip syrup as children, probably due to the vitamin C content. They also make good jelly.
@OrangeMenace @sundogplanets Same, at primary school we would have home made semolina drizzled with rose hip syrup for pudding.
@sundogplanets their content is called „itch-powder“ in German as well!
@sundogplanets In Sweden they are mostly used for soup, which is sifted to get rid of the itchy "hairs" inside them. Also kids use the insides as itching powder. 😅
@Gulleko Nyponsoppa is one of the few things I miss from living in Sweden. Didn't know that about sifting out the hairs!
@sundogplanets In Spanish too 😂
@csolisr Uno de las formas de llamarlo es "tapaculos".
@sundogplanets my mother made rosehip gellies that were really nice. Also saskatoon rosehip. And even fruit soup (plum) with rosehip accents.
@sundogplanets for anyone like me who was not familiar with this feature of rose hips: It's the hairs inside the fruit that are itchy, and stay that way all the way through you, apparently.
So if you're ever in a survival situation, yes, rosehips can be eaten, if you carefully avoid the hairs! But for most uses you want to cook & strain to make tea, jelly, or a Swedish dessert soup (why hasn't IKEA spread this to the world yet?).
Oct 31, 2026, 10:29 PMI eat them raw by careful nibbling off only the outside, and avoiding the furry center. So much like an artichoke! Easier to do with nice large rose hips like on a rugosa rose
I also make syrup from them. I tried making jelly one time with that no sugar pectin, but I guess I didn't do it right, because I ended up with a bunch of amoeba shaped gummy bears, in syrup. The gummy bears were tasty, and I canned the syrup, but I haven't tried jelly since
@AmeliasBrain @sundogplanets thank you, I was wondering where the itch came from 😅
@AmeliasBrain @sundogplanets This is the first I've heard of the itchy factor-- thank you for the explanation. And for anyone who doesn't know, roses and apples and closely related. If you look carefully at a rose hip it looks like a tiny crabapple. And if you look at the bottom of an apple you see the same 4 sepals (leaf like things) that you do on a rose hip.
Oct 31, 2026, 10:20 PM@sundogplanets I have been growing native onesnin my tiny allotment. Not enough of them yet to make anything with them so am hoping the birds spread them around a bit..
@sundogplanets Reminds me of the annoying childhood pastime: squash a rosehip and put it down the back of someone’s shirt.
@ArtHarg Did not know this one!
@sundogplanets rosehips make yummy jam. Sticky sticky mess though
@sundogplanets
Long before vitamin C was understood, rose hip tea was a wintertime source of it when fresh vegetables were scarce or non-existent. Somehow people knew the answer before they knew what the question was. I think that's cool and amazing.
Oct 31, 2026, 10:38 PM@sundogplanets That looks like a lot of work. You must feel hipped!
@sundogplanets oh, good to know. I’d heard about rose hip tea and enjoyed it in my youth. I’m always wary of trying to do things like this myself unless I’ve done a lot of research. With thanks to you I may try this myself. 🙂
@sundogplanets
Widely known in the UK as “itchy corns”
Well... TIL that rose hips don't come from roses. I always wondered where the hell they'd come from on a _rose_... And now I know... Nowhere on the rose, that's where they come from.
I'm an idiot.
But a little less of one now than I was earlier.
Thanks for sharing, Sam! <3
@401matthall But they do come from roses. Just from the wild ones.
Oh... Wait... So... Only roses that reproduce sexually produce rose hips?
@401matthall @papperlapapp They are from the base of rose flowers. I think both domestic and wild.
I swear I'm not an idiot. I've been aware of rose hips _forever_... But I've never seen them before.
I assumed most 'commercially' sold roses were clones and didn't bear fruit.
Mayhaps, some are in fact clones, but the reason they don't bear fruit seems to be the number of petals and their density prevents pollinators from actually _pollinating_ the plant.
So... I dunno if I knew any of that but I feel like I should've.
... Am I just makin' shit up here?
@401matthall @sundogplanets @papperlapapp now that you’ve seen them, you’ll start seeing them everywhere, especially this time of year. There are several flowerpots with them on my NYC street.
Here's hoping, I'm mostly frustrated that I wasn't able to work out on my own how the fruiting process worked because I had some weird lingering belief that the roses I buy in the supermarket are the only roses in existence and... I _know_ better.
Brains are f'ing weird. If f'ing _seen_ rosebushes before. <sigh>
Anywho... I am looking forward to seeing the rose fruits given the chance.
Thanks for going on this silly brain journey with me! <3
@401matthall Happy to join you. I had never noticed them until kiddo started pointing out “rose fruits”
@401matthall @sundogplanets @papperlapapp
Just in case you're still wondering about any of this, this commercially grown rose plant was gifted to me a few years ago. It's currently in bloom but also has a rose hip on it. 🙂
@grb090423 @sundogplanets @papperlapapp
<3
... The experience of having an idea about how a biological _thing_ works and finding you've transposed and fuzzed a random conversation without evidence and treated as truth in your brain is _wild_.
Previously, I've chastised people for not understanding basic biology. 👀
Now I'm the ass. 🫏
I don't care for it. I'm literally setting aside time to re-read about flowering and fruiting plants because I've obviously forgotten or missed something.
@401matthall @sundogplanets @papperlapapp
I'm certain you aren't alone in this. You're probably one of the few to openly admit to confusion/mistake. The world needs more of you! 🙂
You're very kind. I've found being the first one through the manager's door saying, "Hold on! I definitely screwed up! There'll be a delay because of it but I'm actively in the middle of resolving it with new information, I'll update you in twenty minutes," creates the kind of understanding and trust I want in my world.
This just feels the same.
Also, it really is a fascinating experience to briefly feel a little dizzy as you realize something you've believe is true simply isn't.
@grb090423 @401matthall Biology is COMPLICATED and there's so much to learn! Don't feel bad. XKCD even has a comic exactly about learning that you don't know something: https://xkcd.com/1053/
@401matthall @grb090423 Hilariously, my kids got both a can of coke and a pack of mentos while trick-or-treating last night, so GUESS WHAT I"M DOING TODAY!
@401matthall @grb090423 @sundogplanets @papperlapapp I have a theory and absolutely reasonable reason why you might not have appreciated the existence of hips on ornamental roses: that many gardeners will religiously dead-head them as soon as the petals drop, resulting in no hips.
Does that tally?
I am a lazy gardener and my rose bushes are covered in them 😅
@samsterby @401matthall @sundogplanets @papperlapapp
Same here 🙂
It does for _me_, yes. I'd assume that's a practice on the dozen roses I can buy in a fridge at WalMart or some other chain store.
@401matthall @sundogplanets
Yes, they come from the rare, endangered rose hippopotamus. Poachers kill many of those hippos for their hips.
:-(
I deserved that one. <3
Nov 1, 2026, 4:08 AM@brouhaha @401matthall @sundogplanets
(unrelated tangent:
Baby, it's been so long
That even the rose's hips are turning me on
Baby, it's been so long
https://genius.com/Murder-by-death-fuego-lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq8w0_bKbgY
)
Nov 1, 2026, 4:11 AM@brouhaha @401matthall @sundogplanets which, uh, given that the name in Dakota means "itchy ass berries", really puts that song in a whole new light...
Oct 31, 2026, 11:35 PMThey make an excellent marmalade if the seeds inside are removed.
@sundogplanets When I was a kid in England we used to cut them open and put them down each others backs. They’re VERY itchy!
Now I make rosehip syrup with them and it’s delicious :)
@sundogplanets A friend here in Scotland uses hand foraged wild rosehips as botanicals in his gin brand. He carefully de-seeds them before dehydrating the flesh, which goes into the gin infusion. To help propagate the plants, and return nutrients, he returns the seeds to the hedgerows he picks from. He’s had some interesting conversations over the years as he spreads them in heavy duty gloves! 🧤
It is wonderful that your friend returns the seeds to the hedgerows while wearing heavy duty gloves.
@sundogplanets I was today years old when I first saw what rose hips actually look like. Had them in my tea before but they don't look the way I imagined.
@sundogplanets rose hips don't lie!
I’m having picked and eaten those things raw way back when, you have to pop the seeds out and they get rid of the itchy, spiky fur between this yummy skin and the seeds. It’s a bit of work. They are yummy fresh but only the ones that are kind of caramelized