My best tasting rose hips for fresh eating are Rosa californica 'First Dawn' and Rosa canina 'Laxa'. The FD hips are small and chewy, about the consistency of dried apricots and also tangy but milder in flavor. The dog rose hips I tried when they were green--ugh, tasted like cardboard. But when ripe they are also chewy and tangy like FD's but around 3 times bigger. Both roses produce hundreds of hips. Their hips are "meatier" than some other roses (meaning not much fuzzy stuff inside). R. canina 'Laxa' is a once bloomer. FD repeats throughout the year. R. spinosissima also has tasty hips. Not quite as good as the other two and smaller than either. The Gift (white polyantha) produces lots of even smaller hips that have fairly good flavor. The small size is a drawback. R. primula produces hundreds of hips each year. Medium size. Blah tasting IMHO. However, wild creatures treat them like candy. R. alabukensis sets a big crop of large hips for a species. Not much flavor. Cassie sets a bazillion hips. Unfortunately they are so teensy I haven't even attempted eating. R. pomifera (the apple rose) is arriving soon. It is raised for its hips in Europe for eating.

Funny thing I was just out walking the dogs with my neighbor, and we were discussing trying various rose hips in tea to see which taste the best. Both Rosa californica 'First Dawn' and R. canina are loaded right now, so they will be the initial volunteers.

The Greenmantle website has a lot of info about using various parts of roses for food, perfume, etc. Scroll down on the link below for recipes and roses used.

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose petals perfume, potpourri + hip recipes

Thanks so much Melissa and anntn6b ,
that's what is so great about this site, always more information than I can digest in one sitting.
Rose tea sounds so relaxing and therapeutic.
Around these parts one might get shot for rustling a few hips by the road, that would not be healthy. I'll have to see which of these roses if any Rogue Valley carries for next Spring.
I must remember to pick near the top; on my first walk in Alaska I was thrilled to find a high bush cranberry. Going for the best berries left near the bottom, I was horrified it tasted like a wolf had showered them. There are plenty of wild critters around here in North Idaho that all like the same things I do. Could someone breed a decoy rose ?
Will look up Greenmantle and the rose names you suggested.

Anntn6b,
The USDA says Post Falls Idaho is 6b, I don't believe it.
Would love to read up on organic rose gardening, since gardening in my mind is all that can be done now for a few months.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Yep, another vote for canina. These heps were collected during WW2 to make rose-hep syrup for a nation of children suffering from vitamin C deficiency due to severe rationing. They have not really been superceded imo as the best heps for syrup.

Thanks Campanula,
I always look forward to your postings, and every time I am tempted to get the roses you hate, I cross them off my list!
I had a friend who's son worked at a vitamin store. After wasting hundreds of dollars in vitamins that did not agree with me, i decided to turn a new leaf. Wouldn't you rather have a tasty rose hep even with the effort , than swallow a horse pill?
You are loved and respected, a true Rose.
Linda

Ironically, one of the nicest tasting rose hips I've sampled is from the Ralph Moore "Tea-mini hybrid", Sharon's Delight. It's a nice little, single flowered shrub which flowers incessantly here. Let the hips get really brilliant red-orange and they are quite "fruit like". The lady for whom it is named, has been a very long time friend. When she heard I had reported her rose had good tasting hips, it provided her the perfect opportunity to razz me, "Oh, I hear you really like my hips, huh?"

The closest runner-up in a modern was Cl. Winifred Coulter. Its hips are quite a bit tastier than the bush form's. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Sharon's Delight

R. rugosa has the meatiest rose hips I've ever et. A very high flesh to seed ratio which is important to me when I'm making jam.
Since I rarely cook with sugar anymore I'd probably just smear the ripe rose hips on toast as they are.
When ripe each hip is the size of a cherry tomato. I grow a species hybrid of R. rugosa named 'Magnifica' (there is also an eglantine hybrid of the same name) with the same color, size and high flesh to hip ratio in the hips. Magnifica re-blooms well and has larger blooms than the species and inherited the same floral scent.
I remember snacking on rugosa rose hips in Germany many years ago, I came across a public planting that was comprised only of R. rugosa. I remember it fondly.
Alba Semi-Plena has gorgeous red flagon shaped hips, but I can't remember them standing out for taste.
Lady Hillingdon bears thousands of very large hips that are still not ripe, near Thanksgiving, I'll pick a few if they ever do ripen and get back to you.
Lux.
P.s. I'd love a rosebush that bore hips that taste of apricots, where can I find that rose?

Thanks everybody,
I can almost taste it thinking about how enjoyable it would be to throw a few beauties in my apron pocket, any little token of thanks for being enslaved year round to my bossy roses.

May I tag on a second vote for R. Magnifica as Luxrosa mentioned? Back in the day when I grew about 200 roses, my enterprising son with culinary interest went round with small pocket knife in the autumn, tasting all the ripened hips on my roses. Rugosas were indeed the meatiest, but not all rugosas were equally tasty. His vote for the best flavor went to R. Magnifica - and I had to agree. It made some very lovely jam, as I remember.
Anne