Rose Hips

What are rose hips?

Rose hips are the fruit that grows on rose bushes. Why are they called hips instead of berries or fruits? No idea.

The nice thing is that if you know you can grow roses in your area, then you also know that you can grow rose hips. Same plant. So maybe you already are growing some! If you’ve got any kind of roses in your yard then you are.

Of course roses that have been optimized for enormous blooms are not intentionally optimized for the taste and usefulness of their fruits. If you've got rose hips it's worth trying them (if they haven't been sprayed with pesticides or anything) because I have heard of some tea roses that actually did have great rose hips too.

Look at the variety of sizes, colors, and shapes of rose hips in this picture from a flower show in France:

Rose hip display at the Chantilly Flower Show in Chantilly, France 2018. Photo by Mark Wessel.

There are several types that are favorites for rose hip production: rugosa rose (Rosa rugosa), dog rose (Rosa canina), and apple rose (Rosa villosa). Those are the types that I was directed to most often. There are many that have good hips, check out more roses with good hips here. You may have difficulty finding some of these types of roses in the US though.

Rose Hips That I'm Growing

I've planted a Rosa villosa in my garden; the Apple Rose. I think the fruit did look a little bit like apples at first. Here's a picture of the rose hips first forming followed by a picture of some apples growing just a few yards away:

The flowers on the Rosa villosa aren't like typical roses. It was just four small pink petals that faded quickly. It's definitely optimized for the fruits, not the flowers. But I do think that it still has good ornamental value because of the large size and bright color of the fruits. They slowly changed from green to orange and finally to a deep red.

 

Since this was right by the sidewalk my neighbors noticed it and asked me about it, usually thinking it was cherry tomatoes until they looked a little closer.

This rose bush is tough. When the nearby plants were struggling because of the low quality soil in that part of my garden, this rose bush grew vigorously and produced abundantly. The branches were so loaded with fruits that one even snapped under the weight.

You’ve probably seen rugosa roses because they are commonly grown as ornamentals. They have flowers that actually look like roses. They form a round little rose bush that is covered with flowers, and later, the rose hips. The roses are small and fragrant, and if you want a rose bush that you can use for petals and rose hips rugosa roses are a great option.

What do rose hips taste like?

The fruits are full of seeds. So there is a little bit less to eat from each fruit than it looks like there is.

But they were tasty. They are more work than most of the fruits I’m growing, because you have to scrape all the seeds and hairs out instead of just popping them in your mouth (I like to also rinse them to make sure all the hairs are out). But the taste was worth the work: sweet and crunchy and apricot-flavored. I'm not even sure if they were completely ripe because what I've read said they are supposed to taste the best after the first frost, but after trying a few from that branch that broke (in September), none of them avoided being eaten long enough for me to find out.

I've tried wild rose hips up in the mountains here in Utah and they definitely don't have the sweetness or flavor that these rose hips had. They don't taste bad though, just bland.

Last Thing

Watch out for the thorns when you are collecting rose hips. Those things will claw you like a cat. 

Futile plea

Have you tried growing rose hips? Do you know a variety that tastes great? Tell me in the comments!