How to Make Rose Hip Tea from Fresh Rose Hips

I stumbled across wild rose hips growing by the lakeshore and immediately thought of brewing up some fresh rose hip tea, it’s surprisingly easy.

➡ Fresh rose hips are ripe in fall and make a rosy Vitamin C rich tea.

➡ Herbal tea makes a great cold weather hydrator when you’re finally ready to put down those cans of flavored water ✋

➡ Fresh rose hips can be frozen and used straight from the freezer for tea all winter.

A rose hip is the fruit of the rose plant

It forms after the flower fades and contains the seeds. Fresh hips can be small and oval like the ones I found, or large and round, depending on the variety. All types can be brewed into tea.

You can spot rose hips in all kinds of places ~ in your garden, along roadsides, trails, field edges, and near lakes or on coastal shores. Pick from plants you know haven’t been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals.

Rose hips ripen in September and October

September and October are prime rose hip season. By then the hips have turned from green to orange or red and are nice and plump. I pick them when they’re fully colored and just starting to soften.

Prepping rose hips for tea

Rose hips are hard and dense, which makes them tricky to chop. I use a sturdy chef’s knife, but you can also load them in a small food processor to break them up. Note that chopping rose hips will release their inner seeds ~ use all of it, seeds and all, for your tea.

• Rinse your rose hips
• Trim off the stem ends and the blossom ends.
• Give them a rough chop.
• They’re ready to steep.

Tea proportions

I use about 1/4 cup chopped or crushed hips for 2 cups water.

Brewing tea from fresh rose hips

1. Combine the chopped rose hips and water and bring to a boil.
2. Turn off the heat, cover, and let steep for 10-15 minutes.
3. Strain the tea very well through a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth, or use a coffee filter. Rose hips have tiny hairs around the seeds, and you want those completely removed before drinking.
4. Enjoy hot with lemon and honey.

Dried vs fresh rose hips

The main advantage of fresh rose hip tea is freshness of flavor and potentially better retention of vitamin C, since drying can reduce ascorbic acid depending on how the hips are processed. Studies comparing fresh and dried hips generally find less vitamin C after drying. So your extra step in straining the fresh hips is worth it.

If you’d like to try dried rose hips, this is a good option.

Freeze them for later

Freeze fresh rose hips whole after rinsing and drying them well. Spread them on a tray first so they freeze individually, then transfer to a freezer bag or container. For best flavor and vitamin C, I’d try to use them within about 6–12 months.

For tea, you can use them straight from frozen. Freezing softens them a bit, which actually makes them easier to chop or crush.

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How to Make Fresh Rose Hip Tea

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Rose hip tea is a simple way to use ripe fall rose hips ~ it's easy to brew up with just fresh hips and water.

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Prep Time:5 minutes minutes

Cook Time:10 minutes minutes

Total Time:15 minutes minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients

 

• 1/2 cup fresh rose hips
• 2 cups water

Instructions

• Rinse about 1/2 cup fresh rose hips and trim off the stem and dried blossom ends.
• Lightly crush or roughly chop the hips. You should have about 1/4 cup trimmed and chopped.
• Bring 2 cups water to a boil, add the rose hips, then reduce the heat to very low.
• Cover and steep gently for 10–15 minutes.
• Use the back of a spoon to crush the hips to release more of their flavor and color.
• Strain very well through a coffee filter, cheesecloth, or another very fine filter to remove the tiny hairs around the seeds.*
• Serve hot, with honey or lemon if you like.

Notes

Rose hips have tiny hairs around the seeds that can irritate the mouth and throat, so that final fine straining is important.

NOTES ~ Click here to add your own private notes.

Course: beverage

Cuisine: American

Author: Sue Moran

Keyword: beverage, herbal tea

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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