Contents
People began to eat rose hips and use it for medicinal purposes many hundreds of years ago. In medical treatises that have come down to us from the Middle Ages, you can find a mention of this plant. Even then, it was used as an anti-inflammatory and healing agent. In Our Country, at the same time, they strictly monitored the harvest of wild rose, and even special people were hired to collect it. Monks and peasants were required to prepare stocks of berries. Currently, rose hips and petals are used in the treatment of many diseases.
The benefits of rose hips are undeniable. Doctors of evidence-based medicine, homeopaths, naturopaths, herbalists talk about it. Whatever type of treatment and healing of the body you adhere to, rose hips will always come in handy.
Rose hips are usually harvested in mid-autumn. If you plan to harvest the berries yourself, then after picking them, they must be washed and dried. If you are buying rose hips from the market, pay attention to the size and shape – properly dried rose hips will be small and shriveled. Otherwise, there is a risk that the berries were dried at a high temperature, which means they lost almost all their benefits.
It is best to store rose hips in a linen bag or a glass jar covered with gauze.
How to brew dried rose hips
Dried rose hips, when properly stored, remain useful throughout the year, and you can buy it in any season. In addition, unlike fresh fruits, it does not need to remove the villi. That is why when brewing, preference is given to dried berries.
The fruits can be brewed as a whole, or after crushing them with a blender. In the latter case, the maximum benefit will be obtained from the berries, and the brewing process will take less time. The brewing technology itself is no different.
1. Rinse the berries well with running water, spread them on a towel and dry.
2. If desired, cut the berries in half and chop in a blender, after removing the core. Berries can be left whole.
3. Boil water and let it cool down to 60-80 degrees. It is better to use filtered.
4. Put the berries in a teapot at the rate of 5 tablespoons per 1 liter of water, pour boiling water over it and let it brew for 7-8 hours.
5. Strain the resulting broth, add honey if desired.
How to brew rose hips in a thermos
It is most convenient to brew rose hips in a thermos. But do not forget to take into account that the thermos flask must be glass, otherwise useful substances may be destroyed when interacting with metal. With this method of brewing, you can also use both whole berries and chopped ones.
1. Pre-prepare the berries – rinse and dry.
Council
If you are brewing whole rose hips, then you can pre-pierce each berry – so the drink will turn out richer.
2. Scald the thermos flask with boiling water and put the berries there, filling the thermos by a quarter. In the case of crushed berries, 3-4 tablespoons per 1 liter of water will be enough.
3. Fill the wild rose with hot water, but not boiling water, and leave overnight. Crushed rose hips can be drunk after 2 hours, but the longer it is infused, the tastier the drink is.
4. In the morning, drain the infusion into a convenient container, and use the remaining berries again. Brewing the same berries more than twice is not recommended.
How to brew wild rose without a thermos
If there was no thermos in the house, then you can brew rose hips in an ordinary kettle. In this case, the process will not be much different, you just need a little more berries.
1. Take rose hips at the rate of 6-7 tablespoons per 1 liter of water, rinse with warm water and mash slightly.
2. Pour the berries into the kettle, fill with hot water (about 60 degrees) and immediately cover with a lid. We also recommend wrapping the teapot in a towel or blanket – this will allow you to get the maximum benefit from the berries.
3. Leave for at least 7 hours, preferably overnight.
How to brew rosehip in a saucepan
Brewing rose hips in a saucepan is another easy way to make a decoction. A pot is sure to be found in every kitchen. Moreover, this method is also the fastest.
1. Prepare the berries at the rate of 2 tablespoons per 0,5 liter of water, rinse with running water and put in a saucepan.
2. Fill the berries with warm water and leave to infuse for half an hour.
3. Put the infusion on the stove, set the minimum temperature and leave for another half hour.
Council
Be sure to make sure that the drink does not boil, otherwise most of the nutrients will be destroyed.
4. Remove the pan from the stove and leave the broth to cool.
How to brew fresh rosehip
If you want to get the most vitamins and nutrients from rose hips, then you should pay attention to fresh fruits. But be prepared for the fact that preparing berries for making a decoction will take much more time. In addition, fresh berries are available only a few weeks a year.
1. Rinse the wild rose, cut in half and clean from the inside, carefully removing rough hairs.
2. Mash the peeled berries to a pulp and put in a glass container – a teapot or a thermos – at the rate of 5 teaspoons per 1 liter of water.
3. Pour hot water (about 60 degrees) and let it brew for 40 minutes, then strain through gauze or cotton cloth.
4. Transfer the remaining pulp to a saucepan, pour water at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 0,5 liter of water and boil for another half hour.
5. Cool the resulting broth and mix with the infusion.
How to drink rosehip
When using wild rose, it is important to remember that vitamins in the broth are stored for no more than 12 hours. After this time, although the drink will remain tasty, there will be almost no benefit in it. To maintain immunity, it is enough to drink 1 glass of decoction per day for adults and half a glass for children. The infusion will also be useful even during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Popular questions and answers
Experts will help us answer popular questions.
What is useful rosehip?
– But there is one caveat – it is important to distinguish between cinnamon rose hips and the Dog Rose variety. If the first is really rich in vitamin C, then in the second its content does not exceed 0,9%. In cinnamon rose hips, all the branches are brown, even young ones, while in the Dog rose they are green. The spines of the cinnamon rose are thin and straight, while those of the dog rose are crescent-shaped.
Olga Arisheva, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Gastroenterologist-Hepatologist at the Hospital named after V.V. Vinogradova adds:
– For men, rosehip is useful in that it prevents the occurrence of diseases of the genitourinary system. Rosehip decoctions help in the prevention and treatment of prostatitis. For women, the benefit of rose hips is that it improves the functioning of internal organs, and this has a positive effect on the appearance – the skin stops peeling and tightens, the hair returns to normal and does not split.
How much rosehip can you drink a day?
– You can use rose hips in any form – dried, fresh, frozen. Increasingly, it began to be added to various dietary supplements. For colds and SARS, it is recommended to use rosehip infusion, which is sold in a pharmacy, Olga Arisheva suggests.
To whom is rosehip contraindicated?
– It is worth refusing rosehip infusion for people with an allergy to vitamin C, as well as for people during an exacerbation of gastrointestinal diseases – ulcers, gastritis. Rosehip contains a large amount of acids, which can adversely affect tooth enamel. Be careful if you have problems with your teeth and rinse your mouth with water after drinking the decoction.