My relatives in London made rose hip jam (or jelly, not sure which) once. Does that count? I don't remember them saying how it tasted - I only remember them saying that one had to be very careful to get all the inner prickly stuff out. Otherwise, it could be dangerous. I just now took a very quick look at an English cookbook - fruits only - that they once gave me. Didn't offhand see anything about rose hips, but will check more slowly later.

Laura

The earliest rosehip recipe I could find is the tart recipe below, which dates from the 1600's a.d.. ( I can't remember who to thank for giving it too me). I prefer Rugosa rosehips, because they are sweeter especially if picked after the first frost. My grandmother, who owned a farm also advised me to pick parsnips after the first frost because parsnips also are sweeter if picked them, and she was right.

Old recipe for Rose Hep tart
-pick rosehips when thoroughly ripe, or after the first frost. I like Rugosa rosehips best for cooking, because of their good flavor. Rose hips from Alba Semi-Plena White 'Rose of York' would be my second choice for cooking with, wait until the hips have turned red, before picking. These are not as easy to de-seed because of their flagon shape.
Prepare 1 and 1/2 cups of rosehips by;
-slicing off the sepal end.
-slice hips in half.
remove all the seeds before cooking, this will make a sweeter, more delicious tart, jelly or jam, because the seeds are somewhat bitter, or acrid.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
make a pie crust, or two if you wish to top it. I would lattice it, or cut out a rose shape of crust and put that on top.
\ Use a stainless steel pot, if you have one. A cast iron pan will discolor the hips.
-add 3/4 cup water
-2T sugar or more to taste.
1/2 teaspoon powdered cinnamon and ginger ( I like cloves instead of ginger).
a few drops of lemon juice, up to 1/4th teaspoon or to taste.
Optional, 2 tsp. butter will make a richer mixture but it is not in the historical recipe.

bring to boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until thoroughly soft. (taste and adjust flavoring if needed)
-fill crust with mixture, and top with another if you wish, and bake until crust is baked, 25 to 30 minutes.
if you want to you can sprinkle sugar on the top crust, before baking.
Serve with whipped cream that has a little sugar and vanilla added near the end of whipping.
-I'd garnish the whip cream with a few fresh pink or red organic rose petals.
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Rose hip Jam
prep hips as done in the tart recipe
2 quarts fo rosehips (rugosa hips if you have them)
1 large orange
1 green apple
zest of 2 lemons and juice
6 cups of water
5 cups of sugar
1 T. butter

1 box of jelling substance, certo or the like.

supreme the orange, removing the bitter membrane.
core and remove seeds from the applel and chop. (I leave the peel on for flavor.
follow directions on the box for making jam.

I never can jam, but give any extra away to freinds and I also freeze it, because frozen jam is nearly as yummy as fresh jam especially if used within 3 months.

google rosehip recipes on the internet for more ideas, there are plenty of rosehip jelly recipes too.

Luxrosa

I'm so glad you brought up this topic, rosefolly, as I'm really interested in roses as edibles and encourage everyone I can to include roses in any edible landscape design or veggie/herb garden. I regularly use petals in salads (after removing any bitter-tasting white bits at the point of attachment)and have been tasting various roses to find the best-tasting petals. I was surprised to discover that the modern butter-colored floribunda Julia Child has tasty petals -- but of course the famous chef would have been appalled if they weren't! Also some of the older roses taste good to me - Mlle Cecile Brunner, Old Blush etc. I also sometimes make rose-petal sandwiches for our Rose Society meetings. Cut triangles of a sturdy bread (crusts removed if you are doing a traditional English tea sandwich), spread on boursin or other herbed cheese, and press petals into the cheese. Top with a tiny sprinkle of parsley or carrot.

I too have been told that the Rugosa hips are the most flavorful for tea or jam but alas, they don't usually grow well here in coastal Calif. We also don't get those nice freezes that sweeten up the hips in fall. So I just keep tasting and experimenting.

I've heard of rose hip tea but have never tried it. Maybe it comes from Tea roses--ha ha. You can make jam/jelly out of all kinds of stuff. I've had some make from Kudzu and it wasn't too bad. I'm sure jam made of rose hips would be much tastier. Thanks for the recipe, Luxrosa.

GardenAtlanta, I have had kudzu jelly or jam as well. Aside from the fact that it contained a ton of sugar and sugar just naturally deposits itself in my my posterior location, it was incredibly tasty.

Someone gave me rose hip jelly that came from some frou frou little boutique place and I am not sure it was prepared correctly. It seemed to have that artificial taste of rose that we smell in certain less expensive colognes, so I believe this was a poseur.

The same could be said for the rose hip tea I drank at a spa. It was not something I would pay $3 per bag for, but maybe I would have tipped heavier if I had not been "given" a cup and expected to like it. ;-)

All that said, I have loved gathering rose petals and sprinkling with sugar and/or just molesting a coconut cake in a beautiful way with beautiful, colorful, bright and pastel happy petals.

Rose flavored soda pop? (Click the link below.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose soda

My R. rugosa rubra hips are edible (as opposed to merely "eatable"). I wouldn't say they were always "tasty." They do vary. At best they've tasted like an ok apple. Apple flavor is present. They're not very sweet; but they're not sour or bitter either. The texture is soft and pasty, when ripe. Sometimes they're just bland. I don't have enough to cook with yet. Perhaps when it's bigger.

Mike

There is an Italian company - http://purelyorganic.com - that used to carry an organic rose syrup that is to die for. A bit in the bottom of a champagne flute,fill w/prosescco.....

'Centifolia' has tasty, rosy petals, perfect for scent, flavor, and color. Ripe R. rugosa hips are the only ones I've found that actually taste good: they're soft and pulpy, with a sweet and tart flavor. I never figured out an easy way to clean them, but used to snack on them in the garden.

That's the big reason I don't deal with rose hips. I haven't figured out an easy way to clean them. Petals, OTOH, are about the easiest thing to prepared for jam I've come across yet.

The rose hip tea.
MG, you don't have to clean them from seeds for this purpose :)

Tea is usually made from dried hips. Rosa canina hips are classic, but Semiplena or Rugosa hips will work as well.
The recipe is for 1 Qt of tea.
Take a handful of dried hips and put it in the thermos bottle (the real one, the one that will keep temperature for hours)and fill thermos with boiling water to the top. Close thermos and let it stay for 4-8 hours or overnight. High temp helps extraction of flavors. You will have the most delicious tea, very dark and flavorable. With good thermos it will still be really hot. You can add some suguar if you like your tea sweet.

Olga

The coffee roaster in town used to sell bags of dried rose hips. I could probably still coax some out of them. They no longer sell straight hips, but use them in herbal tea mixes.

I drank so much of that stuff over the years, that I sort of ODed on it.

I emailed SimplyOrganic - the rose syrup is back on the site. It is expensive, but a little goes a long way. I made the mistake of hoarding my first bottle, and the last few inches went to waste as the essence faded - so a holiday extravagance in bubbly drinks, and to flavor simple pound cake/tea cakes.

You can check this link for rose hips, if you want to try tea.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose hips

Can't you get rose hip teabags over there? A packet of 25 teabags costs 2.56 USD in any food store in Sweden. It's quite tasty, bright red and somewhat tart, rich in vitamin C. I don't drink much of it myself but keep it for guests who don't drink black tea or coffee.

So many great ideas... I think my favorite that I'll have to try is rose syrup in champagne. Now that's the ultimate in luxury! How perfect for a Valentine's Day treat...

Linda

I'm in interested in making rose petal jam.

This Rosa Gallica Officinalis, aka 'apothecary rose' or 'Lancashire's Red Rose' was suggested as a candidate

Do you think it would make good petal jam? Any other easy to grow, low disease roses you can recommend for jam?

Thanks

I have tried to make a rose-hip jam only from rugosas - not sure about which kind, since we used to pick them up in some abandoned farmstead. Cleaning them up is not that much of a difficult task, but rather requires a lot of patience, I just cut hip in half, clean the seeds, proceed to next one. Then I pour sugar on them, more or less 0.5 kg sugar for 1 kg hips, leave it for a day to soak and then boil it for 15 min. It is also good in mixed jams of apple/rose hips.

I really like this jam with all sorts of curd pies/dishes. I usually smear a layer of it on the pie pastry, then add curd mass on top and bake - yummie.