Thursday, April 2, 2009

Rose hips

Have you ever tried rose hips? They're quite popular here, and are used for herbal tea, jam, jelly, and syrup. They grow wild, and I often see people gathering them. I took these home and photographed them against the lining of my jacket. Rose hips contain vitamins C, D and E, essential fatty acids and antioxidant flavonoids. As if this weren't enough, I found some other uses on Wikipedia:

1. Rose hip powder is a remedy for rheumatoid arthritis.
2. Rose hips from the dog rose in particular have antioxidant values that far exceed other berries.
3. As an herbal remedy, rose hips can help prevent urinary bladder infections, and assist in treating dizziness and headaches.
4. Rose hips are also commonly used externally in oil form to restore firmness to skin by nourishing and astringing tissue.
5. They can also be used to treat constipation.
6. And ladies, rose hips contain a lot of iron, and drinking rose hip tea can make up for iron loss.
7. Rose hips have recently become popular as a healthy treat for pet chinchillas and guinea pigs, which are unable to manufacture their own Vitamin C!
8. Rose hips are also fed to horses to improve coat condition and new hoof growth. (Wonder if they're good for our nails and hair?)
9. Watch out! The fine hairs found inside rose hips are used as itching powder!

23 comments:

GreensboroDailyPhoto said...

Stunning photo. You are a candidate for following the advice of Dr. Andrew Weil. He is king of natural remedies. Do rose hips actually have a taste?

Lowell said...

Gorgeous. I just bought some Vit. C with Rose Hips...

Now I know what they look like! Fantastic!

Thérèse said...

Le poil à gratter de notre enfance!
Et cela fait tout cela en plus? A retenir.
Une photo éclatante.

Antjas said...

I like palachinke with rose hip jam. These rose hips stayed very red and plumb over the winter!

Anonymous said...

Rose hip tea is wonderful, and I have a recipe for homemade rose hip syrup, which was recommended in a cookbook for vitamin C intake in Britain during WWII. However, I think I'll stick with store-bought products because of those hairs!

Tea Time With Melody said...

ooooooh itching powder. I can think of a few people I'd like to youse that on...lol

Marie Reed said...

Goodness gracious! That picture is so vibrantly beautiful! I do drink rose hip tea :) yum!

Kim said...

Very, very, very beautiful photograph. I like the light on the hips and your use of red as a backdrop. Now, about that tea. . .I'm heading to the kitchen to brew a cup. Ahhh. . . MMmm.
-Kim

raf said...

This is great, Bibi. A good list of uses and it does make a nice cup of tea.
Beautiful photo!

boza lass said...

Rose hip jam is delicious (even though it reminds me of every school cafeteria breakfast I've ever had :)

Branka M.

Anonymous said...

I have seen rose hips and my only rose, an old, old one, has rose hips where each blossom was. Something eats them over the winter months.

Debby said...

Huh. Rose hips is one of those things that I know about, but have never troubled myself to see what they look like. You are ever educational, my friend.

Julie said...

You photographed them against the lining of your jacket!! I am blown away by this, Bibi. How on earth did you get that idea?

The outcome is absolutely a winner!!

LA / nodecaf said...

Great photo! I love rose hip tea. Although it is a bit hard to find here, it is worth the effort. Try a summer refreshing drink of half rose hip tea / half homemade lemonade over ice. It is wonderfully relaxing.

Iiiii said...

Podsjeca me na palacinke sa djemom od sipaka...ovdje je sipak nepoznanica. Kupujem ga iskljucivo u turskim prodavnicama.

Marie-Noyale said...

Don't we have to wait for summer end to get them... fresh I mean!!
Nice lining color for your jacket!

marley said...

This is just simply stunning! Bravo :)

Chuck Pefley said...

You know, I stopped by earlier today, and got to reading comments ... and somehow got sidetracked. Hmm. Wonder if rose hips tea would help my attention span?

Tash said...

My grandmother in Pula used to make rose-hip jam. Can you imagine the work removing all the little hairs around the seed from the pod. It was amazingly delicious - tart & sweet at the same time. (We used to be able to buy some in San Pedro, but the market closed & they are putting up condo's there now.)
I like your rich red on red photo of this.

erin said...

like this shot so very much...against the red.

have a good evening.

MuseSwings said...

Beautiful red against red photo! I like rose hip tea, but was not aware of many of the beefits or uses until I read this enjoyable post!

Jane Hards Photography said...

I feel possitivey rejuvenated readin this post. Ecxellent image too.

rosehips said...

i also love to take rosehips tea and i am using this for a long time and i am quite happy to use it , a nice blog .

SPRING FASHION

 This is a post that would be better in color, but maybe not. These colors were soooo pale.