Rose hips Traditional Cache

Rose hips are across the water, between the lake and the trail, right below "Memento Mori".

Rose hips make a delicious dessert soup in Sweden, where I grew up. I remember it fondly. The seeds used as itching powder, less fondly.

Rose Hip

The rose hip, also known as rose haw or rose hep, is the fruit of the rose plant, that typically is red-to-orange, but ranges from dark purple to black in some species. Rose hips begin to form after successful pollination of flowers in spring or early summer, and ripen in late summer through autumn.

Usage

Rose hip jam on a bread roll

Rose hips are used for herbal teas, jam, jelly, syrup, rose hip soup, beverages, pies,bread, wine, and marmelade.They can also be eaten raw, like a berry, if care is used to avoid the hairs inside the fruit.

A few rose species are sometimes grown for the ornamental value of their hips, such as Rosa moyesii, which has prominent large red bottle-shaped fruits.

Rose hips are commonly used as a herbal tea, often blended with hibiscus, and an oil is also extracted from the seeds. They can also be used to make jam, jelly, marmalade, and rose hip wine. Rose hip soup, "nyponsoppa", is especially popular in Sweden. Rhodomel, a type of mead, is made with rose hips.

Rose hips can be used to make palinka, the traditional Hungarian fruit brandy popular in Hungary, Romania, and other countries sharing Austro-Hungarian history. Rose hips are also the central ingredient of cockta, the fruity-tasting national soft drink of Slovenia.

The fine hairs found inside rose hips are used as itching powder. Dried rose hips are also sold for primitive crafts and home fragrance purposes.

Nutrients and phytochemicals

Rose hips are particularly high in vitamin C, one of the richest plant sources available. However, RP-HPLC assays of fresh rose hips and several commercially available products revealed a wide range of L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) content, ranging from 0.03 to 1.3%. Rose hips of some species, especially Rosa canina (dog rose) and R. majalis, have been used as a source of vitamin C.

Rose hips contain the carotenoids beta-carotene, lutein,zeaxanthin and lycopene, which are under basic research for a variety of potential biological roles, such as inhibiting oxidation of low density lipoprotein.

A meta-analysis of human studies examining the potential for rose hip extracts to reduce arthritis pain concluded there was a small effect requiring further analysis of safety and efficacy in clinical trials. It is not considered an appropriate treatment for knee osteoarthritis.

Rose hips from Rosa rugosa (beach rose)

Dog rose showing the bright red hips

Rose hip soup, (Swedish: Nyponsoppa) is a soup made of rose hips and is a popular delicacy in Sweden. It is served as a beverage or as a dessert with milk, cream or vanilla ice cream. Tiny almond biscuits are a very common addition when it is eaten as a dessert.

Some also eat it for breakfast, but the types of soup for that purpose are generally a little simpler, meaning, lower in fruit content and a bit more watery. In this case, a few people like to add broken up crisp bread instead.

Description and preparation

Nypon or rose hips are the fruit of common wild roses, Rosa canina, found in Sweden. The hips form after the rose petals have fallen off. They are picked when ripe and red and after the first frost in the fall, then dried.

Nyponsoppa is typically made with dried rose hips, water, potato flour (as a thickener), and sugar. The rose hips are boiled until they are soft and then blended with a mixer. The mixture is then run through a sieve and thickened with potato flour.Rose hips are rich in vitamin C, which however is destroyed by heat at 60 degrees celsius (140 degreees fahrenheit) and therefore does not survive in the boiled soup.

The cache is a tied in, camoed, small,"small" pill bottle, that you have to push hard to turn, both to open and close. Please BYOP and put things back as you found them.